Stories From the Surface
by Hisha P
Summary: Around two years after the Barrier was broken, our beloved characters' daily lives and struggle for equal rights continue. (Sequel to Echoes. Author Insert will make a cameo here and there.)
1. A New Chapter

Notes: I did say I'd make a sequel, didn't I? ^_^ Though, as you can see the format is going to be a bit different from Echoes.

And yes, I will indeed take suggestions/requests. However, I will try to keep it all in chronological order (saved from the occasional flashback within a chapter) ; if your request takes place before the events of Echoes it will be posted as a separate fic.

Length of chapters may vary.

Here's the first chapter to give you some context for Stories From the Surface! Enjoy :)

* * *

The fight for monster rights was currently focusing on convincing humans to make experimentations on monsters illegal everywhere. Obviously illegal experimentations could still occur, however having the law on their side at last would help greatly. Also Undyne and her former colleagues (and Papyrus) were still patrolling Ebott to make sure everyone was safe. It's not like they could count on the human police anyway.

The second part of summer was well-established now. Not a single cloud could be seen in the sky and the air was hotter than it had ever been all year. Monsters and humans alike were sitting in the park enjoying nice creams and cold drinks, children were throwing water balloons at each other…

A perfect day to go to New Grillby's.

As usual, Sans was greeted by the other regulars as he entered. Sure, Grillby's had moved to the Surface and gotten bigger than before with more and more new patrons (though on such a hot day not many were currently inside), but some things never changed. Like the smell of grease and ketchup and the same fire elemental serving him the same-

Wait, scratch that : Grillby wasn't at the bar right now. Sans sat at his usual spot to wait for him, but a human appeared instead, the one he and the others had met right before entering D.I.E Laboratories a while ago.

"hey", he greeted her. "'didn't expect to meet you here. first day of work?"

"Hi!" she greeted back, adjusting her glasses. "And yes, it is. How did you know?"

"i'm a regular here."

The human nodded slowly, then took the skeleton's order. He hadn't needed to actually order in a long time ; usually Grillby would just see him arrive and prepare his burger and ketchup right away.

"Monster burger or human burger?" the employee asked him.

"i can't eat human food. 'don't have the stomach for it. literally."

Sans winked and the human facepalmed at her own stupid question.

"Yeah, of course you don't, why do I-"

She interrupted herself, muttered something under breath and then took off her glasses to clean her own fingerprints off of them. Once this was done, she disappeared into the kitchen, then soon came back with the skeleton's order.

"so, how did a human get hired at grilly's anyway?" Sans asked, grabbing the ketchup bottle.

"The boss wanted to hire actual humans to prepare the Human Food menu. I think. 'Didn't really say much. My brother makes most of it. The human food, I mean."

"how's he doin'?"

"Well he hasn't literally lost face and he stopped randomly summoning dangerous weapons so it's all good I gu…" she trailed off when the skeleton started to casually drink the ketchup from the bottle.

The look of confusion on people's faces the first time they witnessed him do this was always priceless.

"Anyway, hum… what was your name again? I… IalwayshavetroublesrememberingnamesImsorry…"

"sans. and i don't think i caught your name last time?"

"Call me Hisha", the human smiled.

Another customer entered so Hisha had to cut the conversation short and take their order. While she was working, Sans finished his food and left a tip. Once outside, he took a shortcut home.

The house always felt silent and empty when his brother wasn't there. The latter had been very busy patrolling the city lately and Sans just didn't have the energy to join him. No-one had asked anyway.

The short skeleton picked up some stuff and left again to go to work. As much as he'd like to sit at home or Grillby's and do nothing, someone had to provide for him and his brother.

Frisk was playing in the park with kids from their school when they stumbled upon a lemonade stand they were pretty sure wasn't there before. Their friend Sans sat behind it, sleeping. Monster Kid, who was also there, called out to him, but Frisk new a more efficient way to wake him up.

They went behind the lemonade stand and gently shook the skeleton awake.

"hey buddy", he said.

Frisk stopped shaking Sans immediately and he went on to add more ice cubes to the lemonade as though nothing happened.

"ice to see you. want a drink? it's half off for you and your friend."

The kids snorted at the pun then gladly accepted the offer. Soon, Frisk found themselves holding two plastic cups of lemonade with straws, drinking in one while they held the other for Kid.

Neither of them questioned where the lemonade came from. Given the familiar smell and taste, Frisk suspected Sans had just bought some at a nearby store to sell twice the price, but they said nothing.

They would usually buy something from him whenever they got the chance, just to be nice. Besides, store-bought or not, having something to drink was more than welcome with this heat.

If it weren't for the constant attention of Asgore and other volunteers, the echo flowers of the park wouldn't be able to survive this summer.

The two children said goodbye to Sans as they left to join up with the other children again. Kid even told the others about the new lemonade stand, which made Frisk smile. Looked like Sans would get new customers very soon.

The human child's phone buzzed : it was a text from Toriel, who could no longer see them nearby. They texted her back with their exact location and soon enough the boss monster was in their line of sight again ; however she kept her distance for now to let Frisk enjoy their day off with kids their own age.

As the human was playing, they glanced at their mother from time to time as she watched over them from a large bench.

At some point, they saw that Asgore had showed up and joined her on the two seemed to get along a bit better now, but Frisk doubted their relationship could ever fully go back to how it was before… before…

"Yo, Frisk, look!" Kid called. "My sis got us more water balloons!"

It wasn't long before all the children started chasing each other and throwing water balloons everywhere. Frisk shielded Kid from the attacks the best they could, but in the end everyone ended up soaked with broken balloon pieces stuck to them here and there.

Though, by the time Frisk came back home with Toriel, a large smile on their face, the burning sun had made most of the water evaporate.

They had barely stepped into the house when their phone (which was thankfully waterproof) buzzed again. This time, it was a text from Alphys :

"Did you see the news?"

Frisk frowned slightly, trying to guess whether what they were about to find out would turn out to be good or bad news. They went to sit on the couch in the living room just in case. They were about to reply that no, they hadn't watched the news or TV at all today, but the lizard woman sent another text before they could finish :

"This country's congress is willing to discuss the possible experimentation ban!"

The child's face lit up. If the congress actually went through with this… This would mark a new chapter in the fight for monster rights.

The thought filled them with determination.


	2. Back to School

All things end sooner or later, and summer vacation was no exception.

Children, humans and monsters alike, were (mostly) ready to begin a new school year. Toriel greeted every single child that entered her school herself as they came through the door and they would either wave at her or greet her back in response.

Frisk was already inside with their friend Kid. Even though another teacher would be in charge of these two this year, the boss monster still had made sure they would remain in the same class and with their assigned seats next to each other whenever possible. As soon as her school had first opened, she had instantly noticed how the two would always help each other out whenever they were together without hesitation. Whether Kid required a helping hand (usually literally) or Frisk needed someone to talk for them when they couldn't, they could count on each other. This made both children happier and their grades better as a result. The previous year Kid's parents had even commented on how their child's grades had been better than ever.

She hoped the other teacher would be nice. They had been so far and ever since they had started working here, but what if-

Toriel had to remind herself that there was literally nothing to worry about. Not at her school anyway. She would make sure it would be the safest place for children in Ebott. She always did.

Just like the previous year, Frisk went back the school days' routine almost instantly. After all, when your mother is a teacher and willing to help you with your homework, it all went pretty smoothly.

There wasn't homework yet though, not so soon.

She entered her own classroom and introduced herself to her new students even though they already knew her name. Even the few human children, as they had seen her on TV a lot in the past two years. The new students introduced themselves in return.

Once school was done for the day, she met up with Frisk in front of the school and took their hand in hers as they walked home.

"So, how was your day, my child?" she asked.

"Very nice", they replied. "New teacher's cool."

"I'm glad", Toriel smiled. "If there ever is any problem with them, please do tell me."

The human child nodded and smiled at her.

She may only be a monster but she was determined to make school relatively stress-free to Frisk. Being the monster ambassador was already stressful enough.

"'Got to sit with Kid again", Frisk said.

"Oh really?" Toriel replied, pretending she didn't know that already.

She wasn't sure whether her child was buying it or not. It's not like they would tell her either way. They only smiled and nodded as they looked up at their mother's face.

They reached the house and then Toriel prepared a light snack for her child. She felt the school year would go smoothly. It was everything outside of school she was worried about.


	3. Party

As summer was slowly leaving room for autumn to step in, the congress finally agreed to make experimentations on non-consenting monsters illegal. This gave everyone hope for the future of monster rights and also the need to celebrate.

And that's how Frisk's parents and friends found themselves planning a party in the park for everyone in Ebott and its surroundings. Frisk themselves didn't participate in the planning, as both Toriel and Asgore had agreed that between ambassador duties and homework, their child was busy enough as it is. However, they followed all of it by listening every phone call Toriel gave to various other people in and out of town.

Frisk was sitting at their desk in their room and started their homework without their mother that day, as she was busy talking on the phone in the next room. The human child never quite understood why so many adults, no matter their species, talked slightly louder on the phone than they normally would. They were just thankful Papyrus didn't do that too.

"Oh really?" they heard Toriel say. "I'm sure meeting her under different circumstances will be lovely! I certainly look forward to it."

The child frowned. Who was she talking about?

Before they could get any more clue on the matter, their mother cut her phone conversation short to check in on them and ask if they needed any help with their homework. All they really needed at the moment was the definition of a few words and Toriel's company. She provided both with a soft smile on her face.

Once homework was done, mother and child (the latter had insisted on helping the former out) spent most of the week-end making food for the party. You never had to worry about monster food going bad so it could all be prepared in advance. Human food, however, would have to be made the day of.

The day of the party arrived and so did pretty much every monster in Ebott and the surrounding cities, as well as many friendly humans. As Frisk met up with their friends from school, those who had been in charge of the food placed all of it on the large buffet under a white marquee on one side of the park, opposite the stage that was being installed by a few sturdy people of various species. The ex-members of the Royal Guard (and Papyrus) had been recruited as security guards for the day.

It was when Frisk went under the white marquee with Kid that they spotted a familiar human in black (this time she wore some metal band t-shirt instead of a tank top) talking with Toriel and Sans.

"Hey Frisk", the human greeted them as they approached.

"you didn't remember my name but you remember theirs no problem?" the skeleton said playfully.

" _Their_ name has been repeated on the news much more over the last two years", the human pointed out.

"And who are you?" Kid asked.

"Hisha."

"She was there when we all rescued your sister together", Toriel explained.

"Oh?"

"I… didn't actually do much, I was just… there" Hisha laughed nervously. "Oh, there's something I probably should have done then but… you know, with everything going on I had other sh- stuff to think of."

She took her phone from her pocket and suggested a selfie together. The others agreed and soon everyone was squished together and Toriel lowered to fit in the picture. Right before the human woman could press the button, Papyrus walked in on the little group. Today he had traded his usual "battle body" for a crop top that said "SECURITY" on the back.

"OH, ARE YOU TAKING PICTURES? MAY I JOIN IN?"

"Sure", Hisha agreed.

Frisk swore they could actually see stars in the tall skeleton's eye sockets as he walked next to Toriel and, just like her, did his best to fit in the frame.

"I should buy a selfie stick for next time", the human in black stated once she finally managed to take a satisfying picture.

A few ice monsters approached to say hello to Frisk, Toriel and their former neighbours. As Sans briefly explained to Hisha, now that summer was finally dying out they could leave Snowdin again.

"anyway," he said, taking a bottle of ketchup from the monster food table, "i'm sure glad my bro and i don't have to worry about things like temperature."

"Yeah I had guessed that already", she stated. "I mean, you've been wearing a _hoodie_ all summer…"

"that's the _cool_ part of having no skin."

"BROTHER, THIS WAS TERRIBLE EVEN FOR YOU!", Papyrus commented.

"oh come on bro. throw me a bone here."

Toriel and Hisha snickered and Frisk smiled.

"He's just always _dead set_ on making terrible puns", the human in black added.

"MY BROTHER AND I ARE _NOT_ DEAD! WE'RE JUST AS ALIVE AS YOU ARE!"[1]

"we'd be dust otherwise."

"… Sorry..."

"it's ok, buddy. just don't do that again."

She nodded.

Frisk and Kid soon excused themselves to leave the marquee and walk to another part of the park. The echo flowers in their path repeated bits and pieces of passing conversations, a lot of which seemed to be about the party and the new law it was celebrating.

"Frisk?" the monster kid asked. "What do you think will happen after that? Will the other countries do like this one and ban experimentations too?"

The human child shrugged since they simply had no idea.

"I'm sure they will eventually!" Kid exclaimed. "And then monsters will be able to go everywhere! It'll be awesome!"

Their friend's optimism filled Frisk with determination.

More and more people of all species gathered in front of the stage as the evening approached. Most of them were Mettaton fans who wanted to secure good seats for the robot and his band's gig. Toriel, Asgore and Alphys had wanted to make the band's return from their tour and free concert a surprise ; however they had been powerless to stop Mettaton from making a big deal out of his return to Ebott and announcing it on every social media known to both human and monsterkind. Or prevent him from having posters hanged to the walls of every city in a 100km radius around . How he managed to get this many posters designed, printed and hanged everywhere overnight remained a mystery.

Undyne and Papyrus, who had been trusted with the security around the stage, let Frisk and their friend hang out backstage with the roadies. Kid took this occasion to have the tall skeleton and the fish lady sign their shirt. Signing this child's things always caused stars to appear in Papyrus' eye sockets and a large smile to lighten up Undyne's face.

The two children heard Shyren's singing voice from behind them and turned around to see her quickly rehearsing some of her background vocals with Napstablook. Of course they got up to say hello.

"oh… hi…" the ghost greeted back as their bandmate smiled. "it's been a while hasn't it… how are you?"

"We feel awesome!" Kid exclaimed. "Right, Frisk?"

The human smiled brightly and nodded.

"metta should be here soon…" Napstablook explained. "he wanted to recharge again so he'll be sure to be at full batteries when the show starts…"

Frisk started humming a familiar tune, which caused Shyren's face to light up as she recognised her own song and hummed along. The other two soon joined in. Fortunately, this time the singer's notes weren't actually dangerous.

"Don't start without me!" Mettaton's electronic voice said as he appeared.

He was currently in his rectangular form, which if Frisk remembered well was much less energy-consuming than his humanoid one. A red exclamation point appeared on his screen when he saw the human.

"Oh, Frisk darling! It's been a while! Are you and your friend going to watch my- I mean, _our_ show from backstage?"

The children briefly glanced at each other then looked back at Mettaton and nodded in unison.

"Wonderful!"

The robot's screen showed a large smiley face.

"Since you're here, I have a _great_ idea!" he continued before lowering his voice to discuss his plan.

The very second Mettaton and his bandmates started playing, the crowd went wild and socks started flying towards the stage. Picking these up before anyone could slip on them was actually part of Burgerpants' job nowadays. About halfway through the show, the music stopped and the crowd held their collective breath.

"Beauties and gentlebeauties…"

Mettaton paused to let the audience react. It was almost funny how no matter where his band was playing, the crowd would almost always reply with a similar collective and wordless scream of joy and approval whenever he would talk to them directly during a gig. It was like the universal language of live audiences everywhere.

One simple gesture of his hand stopped the screaming instantly.

"You've all been such a great audience to us tonight!"

The screams returned louder than ever ; the robot waited just a second before silencing them again.

"Now…"[2]

As he said this word, Napstablook pushed a few buttons on their soundboard and music played again, starting low and barely audible but slowly rising in volume as their cousin spoke again :

"Please make even more noise for the one without whom none of us would be here tonight : FRISK DREEMURR!"

And just as they were asked, the crowd went wild when Frisk walked on stage and struck their best pose next to Mettaton (who had wanted to make them have a much more impressive entrance but there sadly hadn't been enough time to prepare anything).

"Now, Frisk darling", he said. "Just like in the Underground!"

The human nodded and reached for the robot's switch just as planned. The audience _roared_ in excitement as he took on his humanoid form and posed while the loud music made everyone's hearts beat at the same frequency. Shyren took the lead vocals while Mettaton and Frisk danced, giving everything they had.

Frisk had been hesitant about it at first, however they quickly got really into it. This wasn't like in the Underground : it was much better! Mostly because the robot wasn't trying to kill them this time and they didn't have to worry about dodging any attack. Still, they felt something was missing for this to be perfect.

They glanced to the side of the stage where Kid stood with stars in their eyes. The human smiled at them and gestured them to join in. The young monster hesitated a moment, then ran to their friend. They tripped on a sock but Frisk caught them then spun them both around, making it all look like it had been planned all along.

Mettaton looked surprised but went with it anyway not to interrupt the show. The three of them kept dancing until the song ended. Then, Frisk waved the audience goodbye and both children went backstage again for the rest of the concert.

"I still can't believe this actually happened!" Kid repeated for at least the 10th time since Mettaton's show had ended and Frisk had decided to walk to a much less crowded part of the park.

Both children were still beaming, their adrenaline rush from earlier not quite over yet.

"You were awesome! I'm so proud of you!" Frisk exclaimed as they gave their friend's side a light and playful punch.

"You were better!" they replied, blushing slightly.

Both giggled as they kept walking. Then Kid almost tripped on something…which turned out to actually be Sans sleeping on the grass. As the children were asking each other if they should wake him up right away or not, Hisha showed up.

"Hello again! Have you seen S-"

She tripped on the sleeping skeleton and was caught by Frisk just on time to prevent her from crushing him under her weight.

"T-Thanks", she stuttered as she got up and took a step back.

Sans opened his eye sockets and sat up.

"what… just happened?" he yawned.

"'Suis tombée sur un os", Hisha replied.[3]

None of the others understood what she said, but from her amused tone they guessed it might be some kind of joke.

"i still don't speak french, remember?" the skeleton pointed out as he stood up.

"That's almost ironic"[4], the human woman smiled. "And you're missing out on great puns. Anyway, sleeping in the park where anyone can walk in and fall on you is definitely a bad idea."

"i was just stargazing. falling asleep wasn't really part of the plan, but…"

"Did you guys see us on stage?" Kid interrupted, bouncing in place.

"i was sleepin', sorry kiddo."

"And I was, hum… avoiding the crowd", Hisha explained, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

Kid's smile fell for a second.

"Were you on stage right now? With that rectangle guy?" the human in black asked.

Both children nodded in unison.

"I bet it's gonna end up all over the internet."

Frisk and Kid weren't sure if they should feel proud or scared of this fact.

* * *

 **Notes :**

[1] : I feel like Sans and Papyrus would be slightly uncomfortable with humans assuming they are dead or undead because they're skeletons. No matter what the actual truth is.

[2] : The musics I imagined here (I have no idea how sound editing actually works so you'll have to imagine it too, sorry) go pretty much like this : from the moment MTT says "Now...", Oh My... from the game's OST start playing at low volume then slowly gets louder until MTT changes form and Death By Glamour starts playing. Only, Shyren sings over it. If you somehow took the soundfount of her song-attack to make her sing Death By Glamour instead then added it to said track, it would sound pretty close to what I have in my head.

[3] : "Tomber sur un os" is common French slang used when one encounters an unforeseen problem/difficulty. I guess the English equivalent would be "hit a snag". A more literal translation would be "fall on/come across a bone" (of course here it's the most literal translation possible that applies) ^^

Oh, and in before anyone comes in with a "haha she fell for him" joke : no it's not gonna actually happen. Shameless Self Insert and I are too gay for this.

[4] : Ironic because, as many of you know, Sans' name is also a French word. I've never heard anyone in the fandom pronounce it the French way though. And wow, that's a lot of author's notes. I usually don't use these many footnotes. Sorry about that ^^"


	4. Fame

The rest of the week-end was filled with notifications on Frisk's phone. Each of their friends had found at least one recording of them dancing with Mettaton and Kid, all of them visibly taken by different audience members. Mettaton himself had sent them a version recorded by his own professional crew accompanied by the message : "tell your friend that next time they want to come on stage with me, all they'll have to do is ask! PS : I'll make sure Burgerpants never forgets to pick up socks again."

They sent a quick reply before the doorbell rung and Asgore went to answer. Oh, was it time for today's interview already?

Father and child both recognised the cameraperson and soundman but the interviewer was new. Good.

"Please do take a seat", Asgore told his guests, gesturing towards the gigantic couch in the living room. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

All three accepted the offer ; however while the interviewer did sit down on the couch next to Frisk, the other two humans had to remain on their feet to set up their equipment. The interview began as their monster host was preparing the tea.

"So, , you've been all over the internet this week-end! Is it true that you being on Mettaton's stage wasn't actually planned?"

"Yes", Frisk replied simply.

Asgore arrived with the tea and set it on the low table nearby. The humans gave him a chorus of thank-yous before continuing. He stood right next to the cameraperson not to be in the frame.

"So how did it happen?" the interviewer asked the child.

"I made lots of friends Underground", the latter explained, picking up their own teacup and enjoying its warmth in their hands.

"Yes, of course… and that other child is your classmate, correct?"

"Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?" Frisk asked, genuinely confused.

They gently blew on the steaming drink to cool it down a little.

"Also, if I may intervene", Asgore said, "why haven't you mentioned the reason why this free concert took place?"

The others stayed silent for a second. Him actively taking part in interviews of Frisk was something that hadn't occurred in a long time.

The journalist took the hint and started asking questions about the new law instead. The boss monster didn't utter another word until it was time to say goodbye to his guests.

The next Monday at school, both Frisk and Kid were swarmed with compliments and questions from the other students such as "hey, it was even better than when you were on the Underground TV!" or "can you two get us backstage passes some day?"

If the human was overwhelmed, their friend was even more so, as they weren't used to such attention. Which is why Kid found themselves escaping to the bathroom at recess for the first time in their life.

"Kid?" Frisk called as they followed after them.

The young monster was pushing one of the doors opened with their face as their human friend joined them.

"Can I…?" Frisk asked, holding the door open.

Kid nodded and soon the two kids locked themselves in the bathroom stall farther from the exit and sat on the floor together.

"I-I didn't know being famous was so…" the monster said after about a minute of silence. "Is that how _you_ live all the time?"

"Every time something new happens. Then they calm down after a while with no news. Or when the story isn't 'fresh' anymore."

"Oh, ok…"

"I'm sorry", Frisk apologised.

"No, don't be!" their friend replied, sitting up straight from their previously slouched position against the wall of the bathroom stall. "Dancing with you was great! If I could go back in time, I'd totally do it again!"

The human child stared at the opposite wall. They _could_ go back in time. Their last SAVE was before Mettaton's show. Would they do it again? As much as they wanted to… they knew they probably shouldn't, as it would be incredibly selfish. Not to mention they promised Sans not to mess with the timelines anymore unless they _really_ had no other choice.

"Frisk?" the monster kid called, bringing their friend back to reality.

Frisk gave them a reassuring smile and side-hug.

"We could do that again some day", they said. "No time travel."

"No camera either?"

The human shook their head. Then the bell rung the end of recess and they helped kid up so they could both go back to class.


	5. HP

Sans woke up this morning and immediately checked the date on his phone. He doubted he'd lose this habit any time soon no matter how unlikely the possibility of a reset was. Frisk wasn't even sure they could still do that. They could have said that just to reassure him, though. Who even knew, at this point.

He sat up in bed and yawned loudly despite not having lungs. Actually, it didn't even matter whether the kid could still reset or not : they had accomplished so much as an ambassador and had so much yet do in this timeline, there was no way they'd willingly erase all of this now. Their previous time loops had lasted a few days at best, right? Doing a few days' worth of work all over again didn't seem to have bothered them much, but two years' worth? That sounded a bit excessive.

The skeleton looked through the window. It was a beautiful day outside. Time was still marching forward, the Monsters Rights movement was already having legal effects, and day after day his permanent smile got closer and closer to actually become sincere. Maybe one day it will be.

He put his slippers on and went to the kitchen, where his brother was preparing breakfast.

"mornin', bro."

"GOOD MORNING, BROTHER! GLAD YOU'RE ALREADY UP FROM YOUR NAP!"

Sans sat at the kitchen table without bothering to tell Papyrus that "nap" was the wrong word.

"BEFORE WE BOTH HEAD TO WORK, I SHALL- WAIT. YOU LOOK DIFFERENT."

The short skeleton let out a confused noise then quickly examined himself and found nothing wrong. Every bone was in place, he had still had one attack, one defence, and-

Wait.

"i… have _two_ HP?" he realised, his voice barely above a whisper.

His mind went blank for a second. When was the last time he had actually been above one HP? Sure, he had been able to get a few more from sleeping in the right places, but the extra HP gained this way weren't really _his_. But this…

"I THINK I CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE", Papyrus told him as tears of joy were starting to appear in his eye sockets.

He picked his brother up and caught him in a tight hug.

"SANS! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!"

Sans hugged his brother back but didn't reply. He still couldn't quite wrap his skull around the fact that he had gained a second HP.

"hey…" he said after the hug had lasted for a moment, "not so tight bro, your bone-crushing hugs might make me lose my second HP."

Saying out loud felt so strange. Papyrus gently put him back on his chair.

"I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, BROTHER! AND NO AMOUNT OF BAD PUNS CAN CHANGE THIS RIGHT NOW!"

"two's still lower than everyone else's though…"

"AND NO AMOUNT OF NEGATIVITY EITHER! THIS NEEDS CELEBRATION!"

"we could celebrate at grillby's", Sans said.

"WELL… IF THAT'S WHAT YOU REALLY WANT, I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO EVEN THOUGH I H-"

"just kiddin', bro. i'd rather keep it private for now."

"OH."

"how 'bout we decide what to do after work?"

Papyrus agreed and served breakfast, which was eaten quickly before both brothers went back to their rooms to get ready for work. This time Papyrus wasn't even mad at Sans for not cleaning up. The short skeleton looked for his shoes to find them swirling in the trash tornado. Well, looked like today was going to be a slippers day.

As he headed out of the house, his brother gave him one last hug.


	6. Sunrise

Flowey wasn't stuck Underground : he simply remained there by choice. Just like a few monsters did. Though, from time to time, when he knew no-one would be around, he'd travel all the way from Home to New Home to stand where the Barrier once was. Now seemed a good time to do this, as the ice monsters had left the Snowdin area once more.

He looked up at the hole above the bed of golden flowers. At this time of night, there wasn't much light coming from it. But if he left this room right now, he should have a chance to catch the sunrise on the other side of the mountain.

Snowdin Forest was so much darker and quieter when the ice monsters weren't there. Well, it wasn't like Flowey hadn't seen it empty before. A few times it had been his fault. A few times, it had been his long lost sibling's.

It still felt weird to think that this time, the Underground went empty _thanks to_ Asriel and not _because of_ Flowey or the Fallen Child.

He went through Waterfall. The place being oddly silent was something he had experienced in other timelines, but he was pretty sure that echo flowers going missing entirely was new. Oh, yes, Papyrus' letter from last summer did say something about Alphys and Frisk checking on these blue flowers, right? Looked like they collected most of them.

Why did that skeleton still bother sending him letters through Frisk anyway? In Flowey's opinion, Papyrus was way too forgiving.

The sentient flower went through Hotland, burrowing himself into the ground whenever possible to protect himself from the heat. He also avoided Alphys' old lab. Soon, New Home was in view. He hoped he wasn't too late.

Soon, he was standing where the Barrier once was, facing the Surface world but his whole body still remaining in the safety of the shadows inside the cave. He never dared to go any further. He didn't want to actually go to the Surface, he only wished to see the sunrise.

Dawn had already illuminated the sky, but the gold and orange hues were still up there for him to see. He kept watching as the light changed and the sky finally settled for a light blue with white clouds scattered everywhere.

Flowey appreciated how sunrises and sunsets never looked the same twice. Before Frisk came to the Underground, the flower had already done everything, heard everything everyone had to say in every situation… It was nice to have at least one thing that would always be different each time no matter what. He was less likely to get bored of it.

He turned around and left. As beautiful as the sky was, he didn't like to linger near the Surface or the castle for too long.

* * *

[Note : Remember that letter that was briefly mentioned in the first chapter of Echoes? Well now you know who wrote it. Finally. ^^]


	7. Fish & Lizard

Undyne awoke early in the morning. She got up from the bed, adjusted the cover around Alphys and gave her a quick forehead kiss ; the lizard woman shifted slightly but kept sleeping. The fish lady left the bedroom and quickly went through her morning routine.

It was her turn to take the morning shift for the city patrol. It almost felt like the Royal Guard all over again (which Papyrus never failed to point out whenever they would patrol together) except they weren't supposed to kill humans now, just to prevent them from hurting monsters.

Before heading out, Undyne stopped in front of her piano, on which still rested the echo flower offered by her girlfriend last summer. Smiling brightly, she took away the special soundproof dome Alphys had constructed, whispered a message to the flower then put the dome back. Satisfied with herself, the aquatic monster put her jacket on and left the house.

She paused on her porch for a minute to take in the gold and orange hues of the sunrise. Then she reminded herself she had a job to do and ran to the outskirts of Ebott, where she was to join up with Papyrus and Doggo who were finishing their night shift.

The skeleton pretty much always volunteered for the night shift, which everyone else on their informal team was thankful for. Having a teammate who considered sleeping to be a waste of time had its advantages.

When Alphys woke up, her girlfriend had already left for her patrol. She shut her alarm clock off while keeping her face into the pillows. Ah, hearing this alarm finally stop was so good. Everything was so peaceful now she could feel herself drift back into sleep…

But she fought it, as she had a lot of work to do and she would never be able to finish it all on time if she slept in now. So she got up and headed downstairs. She went straight to the echo flower in case Undyne had left her a message. Echo flower messages had quickly become a thing between them.

On top of the soundproof transparent dome the lizard woman had created was a small speaker, and at the base was a button to activate it. She pressed it with her claw to hear her girlfriend's message… which caused her whole body to turn bright red. Good thing no-one else could hear it.

Still, Alphys quickly replaced Undyne's echo with her own just in case before she went to her lab in the basement.

As noon arrived, Alphys put down her tools. Undyne should be here soon for lun-

A loud bang on the lab door interrupted her thoughts. Here she was.

"Alphy?" the fish lady called.

"I'm here!" the lizard woman replied as she went to the door and opened it.

She had barely done so that Undyne was already placing kisses all over her face and lifting her up.

The aquatic monster shut the door, then carried her girlfriend all the way to the kitchen and sat her down at the table, where lunch was already served.

"Oh, I d-didn't know you already made lunch", Alphys said.

"And nothing's broken or on fire this time!" Undyne laughed.

They hadn't seen the fire department in a while, actually. The two monsters wondered how these people were doing now.

"So, what are you working on today, babe?" the fish lady asked, sitting down as well.

Her girlfriend went on a lengthy explanation about her researches. Undyne didn't understand all of it, especially given how fast Alphys talked, yet she kept listening intently. It was clear the scientist was very passionate about her current work, and as always it was so beautiful to see. Once Alphys was done, Undyne smooched her snout and told her for probably the billionth time how cute she was. It still made the yellow monster blush even now.

"Need any help in the lab?" Undyne offered.

"Well, actually… I c-could use a hand", the scientist admitted, smiling. "But no explosion."

"Got it!"

* * *

[What was Undyne's echo flower message? Use your imagination ;) ]


	8. Human Guests

[Notes :I wanted to go back to longer chapters but this got slightly longer than anticipated. Anyway, in this chapter Shameless Self-Insert returns and the Great Papyrus learns more about human biology.

Any question/request? Just wanna say hi? Hit me up on tumblr! ]

* * *

Sans was woken up by the buzzing of his phone against his hip bone. When did he even fall asleep? Oh well, it was a slow day at his improvised hot dog stand anyway, he probably didn't miss many customers, if any. Plus the work day should be over soon.

The skeleton's phone buzzed again, signalling another new text. He took it from his left pocket and found two messages from Hisha. The first was a picture of black smoke coming from the window of some human apartment complex, and the second simply read : "Our apartment…"

Well that certainly didn't look good.

"u ok?" Sans replied immediately.

"Need help", the human sent back. "appartement burnt down van we stay at tour place or a nywhere please?"

He had never seen her make so many typos before ; usually she would be the one to correct his typos or get frustrated at him for not using proper capitalisation.

"where r u" he typed, already getting up from his seat and preparing to leave the hot dog stand.

"Town next to ebott"

The bone around Sans' eye sockets shifted slightly in his equivalent of a frown. This answer was too vague for his "shortcuts" to work. It had to be a location he already knew.

"anywhere near the spider bakery?"

"Kinda"

"meet me there right now"

A minute later, he already was in the next town over. More precisely, in an alley right next to Muffet's second shop on the Surface. He left the alley to wait in front of the bakery, his hood covering most of his face. Still holding his phone in his left hand, he decided to call his brother while he waited. The first ring wasn't even finished when Papyrus picked up.

"hey", Sans said into the receiver, leaning against the wall behind him and keeping his free hand deep in his pocket. "you home right now?"

"AS A MATTER OF FACT, I AM!" Papyrus replied. "BUT NOT FOR LONG, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO THE STORE TO GET THIS WEEK'S SUPPLY!"

"good, 'cause we're gonna need some stuff. from the human section of the store."

"OH? IS FRISK VISITING? BUT ISN'T IT A WEEK DAY?" Papyrus asked, slightly confused because if there was one thing Toriel and Asgore agreed on, it was that sleepovers were for weekends and vacations only.

"nope. but hisha just texted me and it looks like her apartment burnt down so i guess she and her brother will have to stay with us tonight."

"ARE THEY ALRIGHT?"

"looks like they're not doing so hot right now", Sans commented.

"WELL I'LL GO GET EVERYTHING OUR HUMAN FRIENDS NEED RIGHT A- WAIT, WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE A PUN?"

"don't get heated over it."

"I'M HANGING UP NOW!"

And he did.

Sans kept waiting for the humans. Taking more than one other person with him through a "shortcut" might be a bit tricky. This wasn't something he was used to do. Just thinking about it already made him feel tired. He closed his eye sockets for a second… then opened them again as he heard Hisha's voice calling his name. She and her brother approached him and briefly greeted him.

Her brother was getting better at understanding and speaking the local language. Slowly.

"alright, follow me", the skeleton told the human siblings. "and stay close. i know a shortcut."

They followed him into the alley, then a second later the three of them were in front of the skeletons' house in Ebott. The humans looked at their surroundings with wide eyes, then turned to each other as if to ask : "did you see that too?" Finally, they turned to Sans again.

"fast shortcut, huh?" he commented.

"How." the young man simply asked.

"It's like… a one-hour bus drive between the two cities, how the fuck…" the young woman mumbled.

"don't worry 'bout it", the skeleton said as he opened the front door to his house. It wasn't locked.

Once everyone was inside, Sans went straight to the couch and let himself drop onto the cushions on the left side. A drop of sweat was rolling down his skull. Transporting two people with him at once had been a bit too much.

"just make yourselves comfortable", he told his guests, suppressing a yawn.

He took a bag of chips from his pocket and opened it. It should restore a bit of his magic. He offered some to the humans to be polite ; they both refused so he just shrugged and started eating. Hisha's brother looked around while Hisha herself opened the small shoulder bag she was carrying, peered into it and muttered some French swear words under her breath.

"my bro must still be at the store so, ya know, if you need something we can call him and-"

"Yes, do it right now", she interrupted, sitting on the right side of the couch but not daring to lean into it, staying on its edge.

Papyrus picked up his phone as soon as it started ringing. He always did. Well, except that one time his phone had been taken away from him. The call came from his brother's number, but it wasn't his voice that started speaking a bit too fast through the device :

"Hey, it's Hisha! So, hum, the fire happened at the worst time and I don't have enough emergency pads with me for the week and canyoubuysomeformepleasethankyouIneedthem?"

The skeleton stopped in the middle of Ebott Supermarket, one hand holding his phone to where his ear would be and the other still clutching his shopping cart that already had half of the usual friend's-house-just-burned-down supplies in it.

"OH, HELLO HISHA!" he replied. The other customers in the store instinctively turned their head towards the source of the noise then went back to what they were previously doing as soon as they realised it was just the usual shouting skeleton. "WHAT… EXACTLY DO YOU NEED?"

"Pads. You know. As in pads and tampons for periods?"

"WHAT PERIODS?"

The human on the other side of the phone remained silent for a solid twenty seconds.

"HISHA! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"S-sorry, I just… didn't expect that question. Hey, Sans, could we just… 'take a shortcut' to the store so I can buy my shit myself?"

Papyrus could almost _hear_ the young woman's air quotes through the phone.

"THERE IS NO NEED FOR THAT! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL FIND WHAT YOU NEED RIGHT NOW!"

"…There should be a thing with 'feminine hygiene' or something written above it somewhere in the store", Hisha told him. "Do you see it?"

"NOT YET, BUT I'LL CALL YOU BACK WHEN I DO!"

Papyrus hanged up and resumed pushing his shopping cart through the aisles of the store. He had seen the one aisle the human woman had mentioned before, of course. He just didn't know what the products there were for exactly. There were still a lot of human things monsters like him didn't understand yet. Apparently these… pads and tampons? were something very important to his friend, so whatever they were, he would make sure to get her the best ones available!

He found the right aisle pretty quickly, as the store wasn't that big. However, he had no idea which ones of the many coloured packages he should pick. Should he just take them all?

The skeleton chose to call back first.

"I FOUND THE THINGS!" he exclaimed into the phone receiver.

One human standing two metres away jumped slightly at the sudden yelling, nearly dropping the plastic package in their hands, then looked up to see it was just the same skeleton they had heard earlier. They shrugged and moved on with their shopping.

"Good!" Hisha said through the phone. "'Cause Sans says he's too tired to take me to the store anyway."

"do ya have any idea how much energy it takes to transport more than one person like earlier?" the distant voice of Sans asked.

"Well, no, I don't", the human admitted.

"papyrus got ya covered anyway. and he said earlier we didn't need to come. which is great, 'cause I need to rest my bones for a minute."

"Ok, ok. Anyway…" she cleared her throat and started speaking directly to Papyrus again, "how about you just send us a picture so I can see if my brand is there? Then I'll text you which packages to pick?"

The tall skeleton agreed, hanged up, took a picture of the aisle and sent it to his brother's phone. Thanks to the picture, Hisha could point out exactly which ones of the coloured packages she needed.

With this matter dealt with, Papyrus pushed his shopping cart farther into the store.

Hisha stared at the screen of Sans' phone for a few seconds before calling her brother, who sat on the couch between his sister and their host. The human siblings started talking in French, the sister pointing at the phone screen.

The only word Sans could decipher was… "police"?[1]

"can i have my phone back now?" he asked.

"Sorry, that was very rude of me, I just-" Hisha apologised as she got up and gave the skeleton his phone back, "I wanted to make sure I didn't imagine things. And turns out I wasn't. I still don't know how you changed the font on your phone but the text I just sent was in the default font so I guess I accidentally changed it back or…"

"i never changed the font", Sans stated, storing his half-eaten bag of chips into his pocket. "stuff i write just comes out that way. my bro has a similar thing going on too."

He created a new note on his phone, typed "see? it's just my type ;)" and showed the screen to the two confused humans. Hisha's brother even asked if he could try typing something too ; once the permission was granted he added some random letters to the note and of course said letters weren't in Sans' font.

"What font…?" the young human man asked.

"Is that comic s…" his sister trailed off. "Oh. OH…"

She sat back on the couch and stared at the ceiling for a while.

Papyrus soon arrived home with all the supplies needed, which got him a chorus of thank-yous from his human guests. Then Hisha grabbed the pads (whatever those were for) and ran to the bathroom. When she returned a few minutes later, the tall skeleton had already started cooking dinner with the help of the other human. Sans was still on the couch.

"Hey, thanks again for the pads", Hisha said as she stepped into the kitchen. "You saved my life. And your furniture."

"REALLY?"

"Well, the life-saving part might be a tiny bit exaggerated."

"WHAT DO THESE THINGS DO ANYWAY?" Papyrus asked, chopping an onion in half.

"It's for periods", the human in black explained. "We use pads and tampons to soak up period blood so it doesn't get everywhere and-"

The tall skeleton dropped his knife on the kitchen counter and went to the young woman's side ; her brother picked up the knife and finished chopping the onion himself.

"BLOOD?" Papyrus repeated. "ISN'T THAT SUPPOSED TO STAY INSIDE OF YOU? ARE YOU ALRIGHT, FRIEND?"

Both humans chuckled.

"I'm alright!" Hisha reassured her host. "Yes, usually it stays inside but during periods you… hum… how do I words? Basically, when you have a working uterus it sorta… shed its inner lining every month. It lasts a few days and it causes bleeding. Yeah. I'm used to it."

"OH. I DIDN'T KNOW HUMANS COULD SHED! THE HUMAN BODY IS FULL OF SURPRISES!"

Papyrus, reassured, went back to his kitchen counter only to find all the onions and tomatoes had already been chopped to pieces by his other guest.

"'read somewhere that about half of all humans go through that after puberty", Sans added.

Since when was he standing in the kitchen entrance?

"the book made it sound bloody uncomfortable", he continued.

Hisha snorted while the other two fiercely ignored him.

* * *

[1]In French we refer to text fonts as "polices d'écriture" or just "polices". Don't ask. I don't know either. ^^"


	9. Autumn Rain

[Note : This chapter was originally going to be a direct continuation of the previous one but I didn't like what I wrote at all so I decided to scrap it and do something different instead. Now we all get to check in on Frisk again! ^^]

* * *

A light drizzle left thousands of tiny droplets on the windshield of Toriel's brand new van. The wiper blades kept slowly pushing them away and new droplets kept appearing in a seemingly endless cycle.

Of course, it wasn't actually endless since the vehicle would soon arrive at destination.

Today Frisk was to advocate for monster rights in front of the congress, which they had done before but this time, to Toriel's relief, the event had been planned an afternoon where school was closed.

The human kept starring at the water droplets as their mother drove. Their country's congress had not been very welcoming last time, though Frisk wasn't sure whether it was because they were a child or because they were representing monsters. Probably both. Though, if the congresspeople could be convinced to vote the anti-experimentation bill, they could be convinced to grant monsters citizenship. The very real possibility of a future of equal rights between humans and monsters filled the young ambassador with determination.

From the backseat, Undyne (who once again took the role of bodyguard) was texting a long message, presumably to her girlfriend. She was hitting the keys so fast Frisk wondered how she hadn't broken her phone already. Did Alphys make her an extra tough one?

Finally, Toriel parked her van and everyone walked the few remaining steps towards the congress building. Once inside, Frisk took a last look at their notes. In passing, they could hear some of the most well-known congresspeople of their country being interviewed while waiting for the meeting to actually start.

Though they had learned a lot about politics since they accepted their job of ambassador, they admittedly still didn't really understand politicians. Why couldn't they ever give a straight answer to anything? The child guessed these people just really loved to talk. Unlike Frisk themselves. They preferred to keep their speeches as direct and to the point as they could be allowed.

And direct and to the point they were.

"…You already admitted monsters are people", Frisk pointed out after reminding the congresspeople that over half of them had voted the ban on medical experimentations on unwilling monsters. "You know they should be citizens too."

Some of the congresspeople all around them nodded, some booed, most seemed unperturbed. At least it was going better than the last time…

Frisk was already getting tired and their throat dry from all that talking but they finished their speech anyway. On their way outside afterwards, they grabbed their mother's hand and strictly avoided eye contact with all the journalists present in the building. A lot of them still didn't understand that the monster ambassador simply couldn't give an interview right after a speech like this. They were too tired to speak.

Fortunately, their friends and family understood : Toriel would avoid leading them too close to the journalists (and repeat to her child how proud she was of them all the while) and Undyne would glare at any who tried to approach her young friend in those moments. Once again, it all proved to be very efficient.

When the three got outside again, they found out the light drizzle from earlier had transformed into heavy rain.

"Oh my", Toriel said, "I forgot my umbrella at home, I am so sorry my child…"

"It's ok", Undyne replied, "I'll get you both back to the van so fast you won't even notice the rain!"

Then she picked up mother and child in each arm and ran to the van. She was incredibly fast ; however the rain caught up on all three of them when she stopped to put the other two down so Toriel could open the vehicle.

The boss monster's fur and the human's stripped sweater were all wet when they climbed into the front of the van. The former summoned a tiny ball of magic fire, the kind that was just pleasantly warm and didn't hurt, and used it to dry her child and herself.

"Much better", she smiled. "Now, do not forget to buckle your seatbelt!"

Frisk nodded, buckled their seatbelt and gave their mother a thumb up.

Meanwhile, Undyne enjoyed the rain a bit longer, the fins on either side of her head flaring.

"I know you love the rain, Undyne", Toriel said, "but we do need to leave. You will have plenty of time to stand in the rain back home."

The fish lady reluctantly agreed and climbed into the backseat.

Frisk closed their eyes and listened to the sound of rain hitting the outside of the van, muffled by layers of metal a glass and other components. After a while, they heard Undyne play with the piano app on her phone. Soon, Toriel started humming to the melody.

The human smiled, opened their eyes and started hitting the part right above the glove compartment like a drum. Undyne, Toriel, Frisk and the autumn rain continued their impromptu concert until Ebott finally came into view.


	10. A Lesson In Magic

[Note : I've been wanting to write this scene for a long time! I hope you enjoy!

(Also Frisk had their reasons for not volunteering)]

* * *

Ever since Toriel had opened Ebott School, she had made it crystal clear that monsters and humans alike were welcome there and all classes had to be mixed. Except for one : the magic class.

Which wasn't a school subject at all, but more of a way for monster children of all Ebott to meet up in the gym and practice their magic safely and away from humans. There was no homework, tests or grades here.

The school gym slowly filled with little monsters talking to each other excitedly, impatient to show their friends the latest tricks they had learned. That is, until they spotted a human talking to Toriel.

"…So if Sans says you can be trusted…" she told the human. "Oh, it looks like the children are all here. We should be able to start soon, Hisha."

Hisha nodded then started scratching the skin of her lower lip.

"Are you nervous?" the boss monster asked her.

"What gave it away?" she laughed nervously.

She peeled off a tiny patch of dry skin and let if fall to the floor.

"You could damage your skin", Toriel pointed out.

"Too late."

Then, the school gym's double door opened quickly and loudly, causing everyone to look in that direction and see Papyrus and Undyne enter. As usual whenever either of these two would volunteer at the school, the children instantly flocked to them.

While she wasn't the centre of attention anymore, Hisha took a deep breath and slightly shifted posture, standing taller and looking straight ahead.

"Ok, let's do this" she said to nobody in particular.

The attention shifted back to the human when Undyne and Papyrus, followed by the children, joined her and Toriel.

"Miss Toriel?" asked Kid. "Why is Hisha at the magic training?"

"There is a very good reason for this, my child", the teacher explained. "I wanted to show you the different effects magic can have on SOULs, and figured it would be easier to see on a human SOUL since they can safely appear outside their bodies. So I asked Hisha if she'd like to volunteer."

"Also Frisk didn't want to", the human added.

"And we respect their choice", Toriel replied, glaring at her briefly.

"CAN WE START THE DEMONSTRATION?" Papyrus asked.

The boss monster nodded and instructed the children to back away ; once they were at a safe distance, Undyne lightly pushed the skeleton towards the human, exclaiming "you go first!" while smiling from fin to fin.

"You may start now", Toriel told Papyrus while taking a few steps back.

Soon, Hisha's SOUL popped out of her chest to float in the air in front of her. She reached for it with her right hand but then froze, not daring to touch it. Then she looked down to something the monster children watching her couldn't see.

"Combat? Clémence? C'est ça le 'battle screen'?"[1] she thought aloud.

"OH, YOU'RE ALREADY BLUE", Papyrus pointed out.

"And… is- is that a bad thing?" the human asked.

"Not at all", Toriel reassured her. "Unlike monster SOULs, human SOULs can have different colours. Frisk's is red, for example. You being blue only means the difference between your normal state and you under the effects of Papyrus' blue magic won't be as visible as if you were a different colour."

"…Doesn't that kinda defy the whole purpose of-"

"This is why I asked _both_ Papyrus and Undyne to come just in case."

Hisha nodded and Toriel continued on with her lesson :

"Once a human's SOUL is visible, they can move it around- not too far from their bodies though, as the two are still connected."

The human stared at the little blue heart in front of her for a second, then managed to move it in large circles all around her before stopping it in front of her again.

"AND THAT'S HOW YOU CAN DODGE MAGIC ATTACKS LIKE THESE!" Papyrus explained to her as he sent a few bones towards her SOUL ; she avoided them effortlessly.

"However, some monsters have the ability to change the way a SOUL moves", Toriel continued.

"THAT'S MY CUE!" the skeleton exclaimed. "HISHA! GET READY FOR MY BLUE ATTACK! ALSO, DON'T MOVE."

"…You're not gonna throw me to the ceiling are you?" Hisha asked, biting her lip nervously.

"OF COURSE NOT! WHY WOULD I DO THAT?"

Somewhat reassured, she did as instructed and remained perfectly still as light blue bones rushed towards her. Then her SOUL fell right to the floor and her body slouched slightly.

"I feel… heavier" she commented.

"THAT'S THE EFFECT OF BLUE MAGIC! I INCREASED GRAVITY ON YOU! BUT YOU CAN STILL PRESS A TO JUMP! HERE, TRY IT!"

Papyrus summoned a few more bones ; the first one took the human by surprised and hit the blue shape at her feet and then she barely avoided the others, body and SOUL jumping in unison.

"I swear if this is all a ruse to make me exercise…" she joked.

"This should be enough, Papyrus", Toriel stated.

The skeleton released Hisha from his magic and her SOUL floated back to its former place at the level of her chest.

"My turn now!" Undyne exclaimed, summoning a magic spear in her hand.

"…Pleasebegentle" Hisha pleaded, instinctively taking a step back.

"Let me heal her first", Toriel intervened, causing Hisha to sigh in relief.

She approached the human woman and lightly touched her shoulder, restoring her HP ; she then walked back to her previous place in front of her monster students.

"Now you can go, Undyne", she instructed.

"Alright!" the fish lady said. "Stay still!"

Hisha held her breath and closed her eyes as the magic spear touched her SOUL. The children gasped as it changed colour.

"Now you're green! Fuhuhuhu!"

"I… I can't move my legs!" the human cried out, her eyes opening wide.

Even though she could still turn her upper body as normal, her SOUL and lower body were now frozen in place no matter how hard she tried to break free.

"But you can block attacks with this!" Undyne told her as she handed her the magic spear.

She then took a few steps away from the human again and sent a few smaller spears straight to her SOUL. The first few hit, then Hisha started getting the hang of it and blocked the rest. Toriel declared it was enough and soon the human's SOUL turned blue again and went back into her chest, hidden once more. The boss monster healed her a second time.

"Of course, not every monster can use these types of magic", Toriel explained to the children. "And there are other types that can change a SOUL's colour. Maybe as you grow up you'll learn similar techniques, or maybe you won't. Either way is fine. Just remember not to _directly_ touch someone's SOUL without permission."

The children asked a few more questions ; once she had answered them, the teacher declared it was time to go back to the usual schedule. The little monsters scattered all across the gym in small groups and started playing around with their various powers.

"…I guess I'm done here?" Hisha hesitated.

"Do you wish to leave?" Toriel asked.

"Well… I wouldn't want to bother anyone…" the human mumbled, playing with the hem of her shirt. "I mean, it's a time and place for monsters here right now so… I feel I probably shouldn't be there more than necessary…?"

"Then you are free to go", the boss monsters said. "Before you do, however… I was told your apartment burnt down ; maybe I can help you find a new one here in Ebott?"

"…Oh? You'd do that? Actually, we, heu…"

"You and your brother need a place to live" Toriel stated, "how could I not offer help?"

"I… I'll talk to him about it. Thanks."

Hisha said goodbye to Undyne and Toriel, "see you later" to Papyrus, then left the school gym.

The skeleton and the fish played around with the children (Kid even got another autograph from them both to add to their collection) and Toriel supervised it all, making sure nobody got hurt.

* * *

[1] : "Fight? Mercy? That's the 'battle screen'?"

Of course Shameless Self-Insert would see the battle screen in her language.


	11. Alphys

[A little spoiler-y warning : there is a minor car accident. Nothing graphic though, or I'd give this fic a higher rating than a mere K+.]

* * *

Usually, could be found in her lab researching or creating new things. Having access to human tech and books that hadn't previously been thrown away into a watery pit had opened up so many new possibilities she was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to explore them all in her lifetime.

Though, today the reptilian actually had something else to do. She glanced at the clock above her on the wall, saved her work on her computer then turned it off.

She got out of her lab, left an echo flower note to Undyne (who was currently volunteering at the school) and went outside. There waiting to be tested on an actual road was an old car she had recently rescued from the scrapyard and modified to better suit her lizard-like morphology. Soon, the engine roared to life and the yellow monster drove in the direction of the next town over.

On the way, she stopped by Greater Dog's place, as she knew it was his turn to look after Endogeny today and the lizard woman felt it was her responsibility to check in on the Amalgamates and their families from time to time.

The dogs were happily playing fetch with each other, taking turns catching and throwing the stick, when Alphys came to say hi. Everything seemed to be perfectly fine. Even their few human neighbours were used to the Amalgamate's presence by now. After all, as far as any human knew, they were just a weirder-than-average monster.

The scientist guessed it was better this way. It wasn't like she was still lying, right? She just didn't talk about the Amalgamates' true origins. Yes, no lie there. Just silence. It had to be better this way… right?

She got back into her car and stopped a couple more times to check in on a couple other, hum, former patients before finally leaving Ebott. She would visit the rest of them a bit later.

She drove to the hardware store to find new pieces for future projects, then to the bookstore to pick up a few manga and comic books that had just come out. Usually she would either have everything delivered or ask her girlfriend to pick something up for her, but she needed to test the new car. And also herself.

Going outside with people she knew and trusted was one thing ; doing so on her own was another. At least the inhabitants of this town were used to the sight of monsters by now so none of the few people in either store made any comment. Were they starring at her though? Or was it just her imagination? It probably was the latter but it didn't make the feeling of being watched and judged go away.

On the plus side, one of the comic books had a woman wielding _two_ giant swords on the cover : Undyne would absolutely love this!

Once she had everything she needed, Alphys climbed back into the car and took mental notes of all the little things she could tweak to make the vehicle easier to manoeuver. She would also have to replace the radio. And install the GPS she had made the day before.

She was so distracted by her own train of thoughts she almost didn't see the human child running across the street near the parking lot's exit. She hit the break a second too late and heard a loud thud as the front of the car and the child's body collided with each other.

The monster got out of her car to rush by the human's side and crouch down next to them.

"Oh my- Are y-you ok?! Oh no I'msosorryIdidn'tseeyou! Oh no…"

She took her phone from her pocket, trembling claws trying to type the paramedic's number.

"I-I'm calling for help!" the lizard woman told the small human. "They-they'll know what to d-do, right?"

The child didn't respond, but they appeared to still be breathing so at least they were alive. Alphys had never been so grateful for humans' incredible resilience.

Her phone still in one trembling hand, she rolled the unconscious human onto their side as gently as she could and checked for injuries. When she finally managed to correctly dial the paramedics' number, she immediately explained the situation ; she was asked to say it again slower. She took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself before repeating everything and describing in great details where she was. The person on the other end of the line assure her an ambulance was on its way.

Alphys hanged up and let her phone slide down on the asphalt. It took a few minutes for the ambulance to arrive ; the entire time the monster kept apologizing over and over. Why couldn't she have healing magic? Would even that be enough if she did?

Maybe it would be best if she never went outside on her own ever again.


	12. Valari

[Warning : implied child abuse]

* * *

Little ten-years old Valari woke up on a hospital bed. She wasn't entirely sure what happened (she remembered a car ; did she ran into it?), but she knew that if she was there then someone must have called her parents. And they would soon arrive and bring her back home and…

She tried to get up but moving hurt ; she wouldn't be able to escape on her own. Would she even be able to try again later?

It took a few minutes before a nurse stepped into the room to see the girl was awake. They started speaking but reading their lips was quite difficult, especially when they kept moving around the bed to quickly check everything. From what she could decipher, they probably were simply asking if she was ok. Valari nodded slowly. The nurse kept doing their thing until they stopped right next to the little girl and lowered themselves to be at eye-level with her. On the adult's lips she could read a sentence they knew very well :

"Can you hear me?"

She shook her head. The nurse nodded and started signing ; Valari's face lit up and she rose her hands to respond despite the pain moving her body caused.

After she signed the word "parent", the nurse informed her that, yes, her parents knew she was here, but the police were currently asking them a few questions. When the little girl gave a quizzical look, the adult signed something about old injuries predating the accident.

Valari's blood ran cold. What would happen now? What would her parents do when they would reunite with her? When they'd find out why she tried to run away? Would the police be any help or would their involvement make her mum and dad angry?

The nurse told her to wait then left the room to come back a few minutes later with a yellow lizard-like monster.

" _This lady said she wants to apologise to you_ ", the human adult signed.

The monster stood there, starring at the floor and fidgeting with her hands. The nurse turned to her, then she nodded slowly, like they were explaining something to her.

The lizard produced a pencil and a notepad from her pockets and walked up to Valari. She wrote something in the notepad and presented it to the child. The latter could decipher the words "my fault" and "sorry" but the rest looked too much like chicken scratch. The little girl's eyes went back and forth between the notepad and the monster. Maybe this was her chance?

She took the pencil as firmly as she could manage in her state and wrote down "please take me to Ebott", to which the other replied by a prolonged confused look. Valari turned the small notebook to a new page to explain :

"You're a monster. You know Ebott. I want to go there. Get adopted by monsters like Frisk. That's why I was running away."

The lizard's eyes went wide behind her glasses. Her mouth was visibly moving, however Valari wasn't sure whether she was actually saying something or not. Eventually, she took her pencil back and wrote down "can't kidnap you". At least that's what it looked like.

The human took the pencil again to add "it's not kidnapping if I ask you to". The monster started chewing on her own claws. Valari turned to a new page and wrote down her home address followed by "HELP" in capital letters.

The lizard's gaze rapidly went back and forth between the child and the nurse ; the latter soon led the former to the exit.

The little girl was left alone for a few more minutes. She hoped her call for help wouldn't turn out to be in vain, because if it was, her parents certainly wouldn't like it when they'd find out. No, she corrected herself, _if_ they did. The monster had taken the notebook, and therefore the only proof of their conversation, with her, so mum and dad wouldn't actually find out, would they?

Soon, a police officer entered, led by the same nurse from before. The later signed she would be translating everything. Valari froze for a second. She couldn't just lie to a police officer, could she? But if she told the truth, what would her parents do to her?

She replied to the questions only in short sentences without giving any detail. She never mentioned her plan to go to Ebott. All the while, her heart was beating so hard she wondered how it didn't burst right out of her chest.

Her life was either about to get better or much worse, and she hated not knowing for sure which one it would be.


	13. Just A Normal Schoolday

[Sorry for making you all wait so long for such a short chapter. However, it just might get the creative juices flowing again and hopefully you'll get a new chapter without having to wait two months for it! Also I just wanted to write something short and sweet ^^]

* * *

"Yo, Frisk!" a very excited Kid greeted the human as they met up in front of the school.

The young monster ran like a bullet towards their friend, who automatically reached for them when they started losing balance and prevented them from falling. Kid briefly thanked their friend for the gesture, then went back to bouncing in place.

"Check this out!" they exclaimed, taking a few steps back, tilting their head backwards and opening their mouth.

When nothing happened, Frisk tilted their head to the side in confusion.

"Oh, man", the monster groaned. "It worked yesterday in the magic class! Let me try again! It was really cool, I swear!"

They made another fruitless attempt ; right as the human was about to suggest they should head to class before being late, Kid finally succeeded in summoning magic fire from their mouth. The flames went at least three meters high above their head.

"Kid!" Toriel shouted from the nearby school entrance. "Do be careful! You could hurt someone."

"S-sorry, Miss Toriel!" the small dragon apologised before turning to Frisk again. "So, pretty cool, right?"

The human responded with two thumbs up and a big smile, which caused Kid's eyes to lighten up brighter than they ever had before.

Toriel reminded the two about fire safety, but behind her stern tone she could barely hide her own smile. Eventually they all entered the school building, where the adult headed towards her class and the children towards theirs.

"…And my mom said she'd teach me her other cool technique!" Kid kept talking as they and their friend walked through the school hallways. "But, hum, I wouldn't be able to show it to you without summoning the battle screen…"

Frisk gripped the shoulder straps of their backpack tighter.

"I could always ask someone else so I'd use it on _them_ so you wouldn't have to see the thing", Kid continued. "I mean, you'd only see the cool technique and not… yeah."

The human's grip on their straps loosened and they nodded. They'd rather not see the battle screen again if they could avoid it. Especially not with Kid in it, given that the only timelines where Frisk got to see them that way were… bad ones. The young monster didn't know any of it, of course ; they only knew that their friend didn't like being in the battle screen. It was probably for the best that they remained unaware of the "details".

They both sat in their classroom. Frisk suspected Toriel might have had a hand in making sure they'd still get to have their assigned seat next to each other again. The human helped their friend put their stuff down on their desk as the teacher (also a human) arrived. Once all the students were seated and ready, the day's first lesson could begin.

* * *

[Did I write this just to have more Frisk&Kid interaction and showcase my headcanon that Kid can learn how to breathe fire? Absolutely. ;P]


	14. Courage

Valari hadn't seen her parents since her accident a few days ago. She guessed the investigation was still taking place. Her broken ribs still hurt but maybe if she ignored it long enough she could sneak outside to Mount Ebott and-

Before she could leave her hospital bed, a reptile-like monster wearing a nurse uniform entered the room. They weren't the same as the one from the other day, as this one was green and slightly taller. They did a gesture with their hand and glowing letters appeared out of thin air between them, reading : "Human sign language and monster sign language are different. Guess I'll do the next best thing."

The human child nodded more instinctively than out of a conscious effort to communicate. The monster nurse took it as a cue to continue.

"Alphys told me to check in on you", they spelt out next. The magic letters vanished to be replaced by "she was the one driving the car."

Valari nodded again with slightly more conviction.

"She really wants to help you but cannot get you or us monsters in trouble."

She stared down at the bed cover beneath her. The monster used their healing magic on her ; it wasn't enough to completely fix her up, but it would help her recover faster. Just like that one fox-like monster (also a nurse) had done the day before. Then more magic letters appeared :

"Help will come. But don't try anything before you're fully healed."

They promised to check up on her from time to time, then left. Valari wondered if they were related to Alphys (that was her name, right?) and how exactly the latter was planning to help. At least now she knew the yellow lizard hadn't forgotten about her.

Knowing she had allies in this world gave her the courage to continue on.

* * *

[Really short chapter again, sorry. But at least you know how Valari's doing. ^^]


	15. A Little Chat

Working in a monster-owned business sure was something. While Hisha's brother mostly remained in the kitchen to prepare non-magic food (Grillby had decided to stop selling it under the name "human food" after too many customers jokingly asked if it was made with real humans), she herself was required to do other tasks more. Which often meant that she got to see the customers, monsters and humans alike.

By now she was accustomed to sights that not so long ago she would never have expected to actually see, like people made entirely of fire, dogs going around with their own guide dog on a leash, skeletons absorbing ketchup through their teeth (at least she assumed that's how he did it ; she never dared to ask) or monsters with no mouth or face at all eat (presumably using a similar technique).

Though, at this hour no customer was currently in sight (which was quite rare), so she took this opportunity to clean up a few tables while humming to herself. As the room stayed empty, she soon let herself sing for real :

" _Welcome to the abandoned land_

 _Come on in child, take my hand_

 _Here there's no work or play, only one bill to pay_

 _There's just five words to say as you go down, down, down…_ "

"do ya have some ketchup?"

Hisha nearly jumped through the roof from the surprise.

"The fuck did you come from?!" she asked a very amused Sans once she realised what had happened.

"my house."

"…Anyway… Don't sneak up on me like that, please."

The skeleton casually sat in his usual seat at the bar while the human did a quick trip to the kitchen to get him a bottle of magic ketchup (Grillby had decided to stop using the phrase "monster food" in his menu for similar reasons he had also stopped writing "human food" in there).

"You're early", Hisha pointed out after Sans thanked her for the ketchup.

"papyrus found this while cleaning", he explained as he took his cellphone from his pocket and pulled a hair tie from the dimensional box. "is it yours?"

"It is!" the human replied as she took her hair tie back. "Thanks. I thought I had lost this one for good."

She put it in her pocket, hesitated a few seconds then finally asked :

"How do monsters do that thing? I mean, I often see you guys pull stuff from your phones or store things and… How does that even work?"

"'better ask alphys. she's the one who ported the old box system to cellphones. she doubled it, too."

"Oh? So it's not some magic trick all monsters learn?"

Sans shook his head no then emptied the ketchup bottle in one go, as you do. Well, mostly as _he_ does.

"well, 'guess there _is_ some magic here, but you don't have to use any for it to work. frisk uses the boxes too."

"Can _I_ use them too?" Hisha asked.

"sure. I'll ask alphys to upgrade your phone."

"Oh, thanks! I'll never have to worry about small pockets again!"

"no problem. anyway, gotta go to work. put the ketchup on my tab."

"Hey, you guys helped us a lot after our apartment burnt down so…it's on the house. I'm sure the boss won't mind."

"thanks", Sans said as he stood up from his seat. "i'll ketchup with ya later."

Hisha turned around for barely a second to throw the empty bottle away ; when she turned again the skeleton was already gone. Damn teleporting skeletons, can't they just use doors like normal people?

Oh, who was she kidding, if she could teleport she'd probably act the same.

* * *

[No Sans that's not how the song goes! (Some of you probably recognised Burn In Hell by Twisted Sister)]


	16. Upgrades

[On AO3 I could play with the HTML and have hover notes on some lines (and also have the skeletons actually speak in their fonts), but since is a living fossil of a website you'll have to scroll to the bottom for the translation of the French lines. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

* * *

It was that time again when Mettaton took a couple days off to visit Alphys. It was usually also time for a check-up and some upgrades. His body already looked fabulous before, but now that Alphys had access to better material (back in the Underground she had to scavenge the garbage dump) he looked and worked better than ever before! And if the amount of fanart of himself he found daily indicated anything, his fans, monsters and humans alike, loved it.

Mettaton and Alphys went into the latter's lab. As she checked the cooling system of his EX form, he fully expected her to comment on how he managed to bust it _again_ , but she was uncharacteristically silent today.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "You barely said anything since I arrived."

"Oh? Hum… J-just th-thinking, is all", she replied.

"Is something wrong?"

"B-besides your c-cooling system that I'm gonna have t-to replace again?"

And there it was.

"I-I'm ok", the reptile continued, "s-someone else I know seems to be in tr-trouble so I, hum… sent one of my d-distant cousins to take care of it for now? D-don't b-bother yourself with it. It-it'll be ok?"

"…I see."

"Ok, n-now, don't move, I have to f-fix this mess."

Of course, it was right at this second that Alphys' phone decided to ring. She let it go to voicemail and kept working.

The next day, Sans and Hisha appeared nearby Alphys and Undyne's house.

"This time I knew what was coming but it's still a bit weird", she commented.

"hey. 'takes a while to get used to the shortcuts", he replied.

"'Shortcut' isn't the word I'd use."

"a shortcut makes your trip faster and that's exactly what i'm doin'. mines are just much better."

"Can't argue with that logic…"

They walked to the front door and knocked ; however instead of being greeted by either Alphys or Undyne, they found themselves face-to-chest with Mettaton.

"Hello darlings", he greeted them.

"…Hello…?" Hisha hesitated.

"hi", Sans said. "'didn't know you were already back."

"C-come in!" Alphys' voice called from inside the house.

"S-sorry, I didn't know you were coming", she apologised once everyone was in the living room.

"i left you a voice mail", the skeleton informed her.

The yellow monster facepalmed.

"I-I forgot to ch-check my voice mails! I'm so sorry!"

"it's ok. i do that all the time."

"And, hum, who's your friend?" Alphys asked.

"that's hisha. i told her you could upgrade her phone to have storage."

"Hi", the human said. "Nice to finally meet you."

"And also meet me", Mettaton added.

"…Yeah."

"R-right", the lizard intervened. "Just g-give me your phone, Hisha, I'll be done in a second. M-make yourselves comfortable."

Hisha handed over her phone and Alphys quickly disappeared into her lab. Sans and the human sat on the couch and the robot removed the echo flower from the piano so he could lie seductively on the latter.

"So, darling…", he started, raising one leg up in the air.

"My name's not 'darling'", Hisha blurted out.

The next few seconds of silence seemed endless.

"…I mean… sorry", she apologised. "Just… just call me by name. Yeah."

Alphys came back to living room right at this moment. Mettaton quickly stood up from the piano and put the echo flower back in place.

"Seriously?" the lizard woman commented. She then turned her attention to the human and gave her her phone back. "There you go! Now you have f-full access to the two b-boxes to store your things. Also I, hum, took the opportunity to boost your RAM and-and battery power a little s-so it'll run better and longer! And I recharged it too."

"Wow", Hisha replied. "And you did all that this fast? That's awesome!"

"Alphys' skill is unparalleled", Mettaton stated. "I mean, look at _me_."

"B-but no matter what I do, you still find ways to overheat and c-completely bust your cool down system", the scientist said.

"So you're saying he has no chill", Hisha joked before bursting out laughing.

The robot pouted and crossed his noodle arms over his chest.

"nice", Sans commented.

"Well, n-now I see why you and Sans are friends", Alphys commented as she took a chair to sit on near her guests. "Hum, h-how do you know each other anyway?"

"Remember the whole D.I.E lab… thing?" Hisha replied once she had calmed down. "I first met him and the others there."

"Oh. Were you one of the t-test subjects?"

"No, but my brother was. I… we were supposed to go together and get more money but… well… I chickened out and he ended up going alone."

"I s-see", Alphys said.

"And later we got employed at Grillby's", Hisha added.

She started inspecting her phone and opening the dimensional box apps. Of course, for now they were both empty. To test the new storage space, she took a small pack of gums from her pocket and pushed it into the device.

"Amazing", she commented. "Still can't believe you implemented it that fast!"

"Oh, usually I c-can do it even f-faster but your phone's all in French and-"

"Oh, tu es française?" Mettaton said.

The human nearly dropped her phone.

"Vous parlez français ?!"

"Bien sûr. Pouvoir communiquer avec tous mes fans est important, alors j'ai téléchargé toutes les langues. Avec l'aide d'Alphys."

"Cool. Être un robot a ses avantages, on dirait."

"So", Alphys said, standing up, "do you guys want a-anything?"

"nah, i'm good", Sans replied.

"Same", Hisha added.

The lizard sat back down.

"i gotta go _skullk_ about somewhere else anyway", the skeleton explained.

"And I should probably go back to the inn", the human stated.

They both got up from the couch and said goodbye.

"And thanks again for the upgrade!" Hisha thanked Alphys as she left.

* * *

 **Translation of French dialogue :**

"Oh, you're French?"

"You speak French?!"

"Of course. Being able to communicate with all my fans is important, so I downloaded every language. With Alphys' help."

"Cool. Looks like being a robot has its advantages."

[Notes : While "tu" and "vous" are both translated by "you" in English, "tu" is more informal. While "vous" is generally more suited to speak to strangers, Mettaton seems to be the kind of person to just naturally call everyone "tu".]

[More notes : it was about time Shameless Self-Insert got to interact with Alphys! Oh, and Mettaton too.]


	17. Police

Undyne always found excuses to be out of the house on the days Mettaton visited. This time though, it was more than just an excuse.

It was with great purpose and determination that she ran all over Ebott Town to talk to everyone who had been in the Royal Guard and/or had volunteered for patrolling the town. Sure, she could have just called them on the phone, but talking to them face-to-face sounded like a much better idea.

When she went to knock on Papyrus' door, he opened and invited her inside almost instantly.

"I have an idea" she stated as soon as she stepped inside.

"OH?" the skeleton said while closing the door.

"We all know we can't rely on the human police to protect us!" Undyne explained. "When monster children were being kidnapped they didn't do anything! That's why we started patrolling the city ourselves."

"AND WHAT'S YOUR IDEA?"

"Let's create our own police! Make our volunteer patrol into something more official! Ebott needs its own police force if we can't get outside help."

"IS IT GOING TO BE ANYTHING LIKE THE ROYAL GUARD?" Papyrus asked.

"In a way, yes", the fish replied, "except we won't be at war with humans or anythi-"

"DO I GET TO BE PART OF IT?"

She could swear she saw stars appear in his eye sockets.

"Why do you think I'm here for?" Undyne said, responding to Papyrus' smile with one of her own.

"WOWIE!" he exclaimed, starting to tear up. "I CAN FINALLY BE A ROYAL GUARD! OR POLICE OFFICIER I GUESS. CLOSE ENOUGH!"

"All the former Royal Guards are in!" Undyne informed him. "I'm heading to Asgore's to see if he can help, wanna come?"

"OF COURSE! LET'S GO IMMEDIATELY! NYEH HEH HEH!"

"That is a great idea indeed, Undyne!" Asgore commented as he started making tea for his guests. "Though, I have to admit I do not know how to make it official."

"We'll figure it out along the way!" the fish lady exclaimed.

The boss monster made her and her friend sit down on the couch while he served the tea.

"I will look into all necessary paperwork", he decided. "And I most likely will need to fund at least some of the equipment."

"THEN WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THE REST!" Papyrus exclaimed. "AND WE'LL MAKE EBOTT THE SAFEST CITY OF ALL!"

"I am sure you will", Asgore smiled.


	18. Sometimes

[This chapter's title is "Sometimes Social Services Actually Do Their Job" but it goes over the character limit fixes for titles.

Short one again, but this is just an appetiser before we get into the next chapters ;)]

Sometimes Social Services Actually Do Their Job"]

* * *

"We c-can't just go and rescue her", Alphys explained again, "they would-"

"Yes, I know!" Undyne interrupted her. "Kidnapping, more tensions between species, all that crap. You already said that! What I'm saying is if they gave up on trying to take Frisk away, there's a chance for Valari, right?"

"It's n-not the same, her p-parents are actually, hum, there. They let Toriel and Asgore keep Frisk be-because they couldn't find their human parents! And, hum, I think she m-might have paid them? Maybe? We f-fixed a lot of problems with gold before it got d-devalued and…"

Alphys' text notification went off as she was talking.

"You should probably check that", her girlfriend told her.

The text was from her distant cousin working at the human hospital and it read :

"Girl recovering fast thanks to magic and human medicine

Social services decided parents unfit to keep her

She'll be sent to a shelter while they find her new ones"

"So her parents aren't a problem anymore!" the fish lady exclaimed after her partner had read the message aloud to her. "Let's go!"

She immediately ran to the door and violently opened it, then froze.

"Hum, where's that shelter?" she asked.

"I have n-no idea", the lizard woman replied. "B-but m-maybe wait until she's actually there?"

"Oh, right."

Undyne closed the door slowly.

"Plus she's already b-been rescued, right? I-I don't think she n-needs us anymore…"

The fish monster hoped her girlfriend was right.

They both sat on the couch in silence for a minute. That Valari business was over, right? But for some reason, it didn't quite feel like it.


	19. Escape to Ebott

As soon as Valari had been deemed fit to leave the hospital, she had been taken to a shelter for children and told to wait there. Though, now that she was free from her parents and could move her body again, she saw no point in waiting any longer.

So, at the first opportunity, she sneaked out in the cover of the night. Her plan to escape to Ebott had had some setback ; now it was in motion again at last. And this time, she knew her parents wouldn't be allowed to do anything about it.

Right there and then, walking through the cold streets under the rain at night, the mountain never leaving her sight, the child had never felt so free.

Her only regret was her lack of raincoat. By the time she reached Ebott Town proper, it was like the cold, cold rain had seeped through her body and reached her very SOUL. Yet she continued on, trembling and dark hair stuck to her skin.

She was there, finally. Now where should she go from here? She hadn't really thought that far ahead.

At this time of night, the streets of the monster town were mostly empty. Though, after a little while, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around immediately to see two monsters trying to talk to her.

One looked like an owl with large black eyes and the other was a skeleton. Valari thought that he looked like the Grim Reaper had abandoned the traditional robes to go to a costume party. She could see both monsters open and close their mouths to speak, but neither had lips for her to read. The human gestured to her ear in a way she hoped made it clear that it did not work.

The skeleton opened his jaw again, then the owl nudged him in the ribs with a wing. A second later, he took a phone from his pocket and started typing something. Surprisingly, wearing gloves didn't seem to hinder his typing at all. Also, his phone had an actual, physical mini-keyboard under the screen (Valari guessed it wasn't even a touchscreen) ; how old was this thing?

It was in all caps and a vaguely familiar font that he asked the child to follow him and his colleague. She accepted, eager to get out of the rain.

When Undyne's phone went off, waking her up in the middle of the night (Alphys was a heavy sleeper and therefore didn't react at all), she almost threw it across the room in anger ; however she stopped herself when she saw Papyrus' name on the screen.

"It better be important, Papyrus!" she shouted through the phone.

"OF COURSE IT'S IMPORTANT!"

"So what is it?" she yawned uncontrollably.

"YOU TOLD ME ALPHYS TOLD YOU ABOUT THIS DEAF HUMAN CHILD WHO WANTED TO FLEE TO EBOTT", the skeleton reminded his friend, "AND WE JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE FOUND THIS DEAF HUMAN CHILD OUT ALONE IN THE RAIN WHILE ON PATROL! AND I THOUGHT 'MAYBE IT'S THE SAME CHILD AND I SHOULD TELL MY GREAT FRIEND UNDYNE ABOUT IT!'"

The fish monster was now wide awake.

"Where are you?" she asked, getting up and adjusting her eyepatch with her free hand.

"THE SCHOOL", Papyrus replied. "IT WAS NEARBY AND OUT OF THE RAIN."

"I'm coming over right now!"

Undyne hung up, and bolted out of the house.


	20. Not So Simple

As usual, Alphys got up after Undyne had left home and went straight to the echo flower. She expected the usual sweet message, but this particular morning what she got was :

"Papyrus found Valari outside while on patrol! She escaped the shelter all by herself! I put her in the guest room."

The lizard woman rushed in there to find the human girl sleeping in the bed. What was Alphys supposed to do now? She couldn't just keep a child there, could she? She probably should bring her back to the shelter, but Valari visibly didn't want to stay there and…

Before the monster could decide what to do, the human girl opened her eyes and sat in the bed. She yawned, rubbed her eyes and waved at Alphys. The latter automatically waved back, then ran to her lab.

When the scientist got out of her lab, she found Valari in the kitchen, munching on dry cereals in a bowl. Another bowl and the cereal box were set on the table in front of her.

The child interrupted her eating to sneeze. Alphys handed her the glasses she was holding ; the human shot her a quizzical look, then took them. She examined them for a few seconds before putting them on.

"D-does it work?" the lizard asked. "I put a v-voice recognition program and-and a m-miniaturised projector in them."

The girl's face lit up when she saw the monster's speech being translated into written words inside the lenses of the glasses. She nodded, smiling.

"G-Good!" said Alphys as she sat in front of her unexpected guest. "So, hum… you still want t-to get adopted by monsters?"

Valari nodded again, this time more firmly.

"I… I'm s-sorry Valari but… We're not even citizens. Humans are b-barely starting to officially r-recognise us as people! I mean… monsters c-can't… Even Frisk still hasn't actually, hum, b-been officially adopted according t-to your human laws, I th-think? I mean, everyone g-goes along and calls them Dreemurr but I'm not sure if- Wait I-I better ask Toriel about it! Hang on."

Alphys took out her phone and wrote the following text :

"Hi! For no reason in particular… what's the state of Frisk's adoption right now? I mean, by human laws?"

As soon as she hit "send", she heard Valari sneeze again and sniffle loudly.

"Oh no", said the lizard monster. "D-did you c-catch a cold?"

The child sniffled again. Alphys sent a second text to Toriel :

"Also what do you do when a human is sick? I mean, I've read a few things but what do YOU do?"

The response arrived quickly after that :

"Alphys, those are very specific questions. What is happening? Should I come over?"

Alphys dropped her phone on the table and hid her face behind her hands. How was she supposed to reply to that?

When Undyne came back home from her morning shift, she was surprised to find Toriel walking to the front door as well, holding a plastic bag.

"I received strange texts from Alphys and decided I should check what is going on", the boss monster explained when asked, "but I could not possibly abandon my students so I waited for lunch break."

The fish opened the door, followed by her guest.

"Alphy?" Undyne called.

She found her girlfriend in the guest room with Valari. The latter was sitting criss-cross on the bed while doodling on a notebook and Alphys was putting a couple more tissue boxes on the bedside table.

"Who are you?" Toriel asked the human. "And what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school? Are you all right, my child?"

Valari raised her head when text appeared on the inside of her glasses. Alphys answered for her and briefly explained the situation while the boss monster gave the child some cold medicine she had picked up on the way there.

Once the explanation was done, the child turned a new page in the notebook and wrote "sorry" all over it.

"It is not your fault if things are more complicated than you thought, my child", Toriel reassured her. "Is there any way to contact the shelter you were in? They must be very worried about you. They need to know you are found."

Valari ripped the page out and wrote on its other side :

"Do I have to leave now?"

"You probably should get better first", Toriel decided.

The human girl nodded and sniffled loudly. Alphys lightly tapped her shoulder to get her attention, then handed her a tissue.

"And if you decide to return to the shelter after that, we'll visit you as often as you'll like!", Undyne exclaimed. "Right, girls?"

The other monster women agreed. The child smiled. Ok, things were not so simple, but they were still better than what she was used to. These women she barely knew were already kinder to her than her parents ever were.


	21. Are You a Star?

Grillby's had just opened and the rain outside started pouring heavily. Grillby himself was glad to be safe inside.

His human employees were talking to each other while finishing up stocking the last delivery in the back. Sometimes he would spot a name or word he recognised, the context surrounding them lost through the language barrier.

The front door opened on the day's first customer, an owl monster whose feathers were heavy from the pouring rain.

"So, hum, you're open, right?"

The fire elemental nodded and gestured to all the seats available ; the owl closed the door behind her and sat at one of the tables nearby a window. She picked up the menu in front of her, declared that she had just finished her night shift and was starving, and ordered one of the biggest burgers. She waited until Grillby went back to the kitchen before trying to shake the water off her body.

The rain was showing no sign of stopping.

A human employee arrived with the feathery monster's order as she was taking tiny objects out of her hears.

"Good morning, here's your…" the human trailed off. "Oh, these are earplugs. Ok."

"I have very sensitive hearing", the owl explained, "and I have to patrol with the loudest monster in all of Ebott, so…"

"…Papyrus?" the waitress guessed.

"Oh, you know him."

"Yup. I actually went to his house once. And his brother comes here all the time."

The bird nodded, grabbed her burger and swallowed it whole. She then turned her head all the way behind her back to take a peek at the window. It was still raining.

"So, hum, don't tell Papyrus about the… earplugs thing" she requested, looking at the human again.

The latter pretended to zip up her lips with her fingers.

"Wait, I think he mentioned at some point he had friends working here?" the monster remembered. "Are you, hum what w- Hisha or -"

"I'm Hisha. And you are?"

"Star. Star Luxoic."

"Nice to meet you. That name should be easy to rememb-"

Hisha had to cut the conversation short when another customer entered. Star remained in her seat, waiting patiently for her feathers to dry and the rain to stop. It slowly turned into a light drizzle but didn't fully go away.

The owl felt her phone vibrate briefly ; it was a group text from Undyne to all the volunteers of the Ebott patrol.

"Humans say we can't create our own police unless we all accept to be trained by THEM! WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!"

Then another text followed :

"I'VE ALREADY TRAINED MOST OF YOU! AND I CAN TRAIN THE REST!"

And another :

"But Asgore says we should play along anyway, so… reply if you're in?"

Star rested her phone on the table for a moment. Did she want to turn her volunteering into such a demanding career? Was she ready for it?

Oh, it was a job. Which could allow her to move out of her family's house.

She typed "I'm in" and pressed "send". Then immediately regretted it. Then thought "fuck it" and decided she could do it. Yes, she never went through Royal Guard training like most of the others did, but if the humans were going to train her anyway…

The rain didn't quite stop but it had gotten to a point where it was barely noticeable. Star decided now was the time to pay the bill and get back home for a well-deserved rest.


	22. Phone Call

This evening, it was Asgore's turn to pick up Frisk after school. Quite literally, in that case : he picked them up off the ground to let them sit on his shoulders as he walked the short distance to his house. He didn't even have to make a detour by the park this time : with the heavy rain there had been in the early morning, the echo flowers did not need to be watered right now.

He entered his house, whipped his feet and gently put his child back down. They both hung up their coats on the rack then the boss monster lit up the fireplace.

As their dad was busy making some tea, the human noticed the public phone (actually a custom-made cellphone whose number was accessible to anyone and always was in the living room, as opposed to their private phones) had an audio message waiting on it. They informed Asgore of it then, as the latter put the teacups down on the table, played the message.

" _Hello, is this Asgore Dreemurr' number?_ " the recording asked in an unfamiliar voice and accent. " _If not, I'm sorry. You can delete this. Anyway… hum…_ "

There was a brief pause, followed by another voice going " _just get on with it already!_ " in the background. The boss monster poured the tea as quietly as he could.

" _So, hum, I'll try to make it short, alright? So, we're archaeologists, right, and until the opening of Mount Ebott our field didn't, hum, know shit about- sorry, I meant-_ "

" _What did I just say?_ "

" _Yeah, hum, let's just say we don't know much about monster history for many reasons. But since Ebott monsters emerged, we've been trying to fix that. So we followed old documents and found another place where there might have been monsters too, right? Well, one of us decided to enter the cave first but now he can't get out. Like. There's an invisible barrier. We can send him supplies but we can't get him out. And you've dealt with invisible barriers before, right? You're… kinda our last resort here. Nothing we've tried worked. We even tried to dig but- yes, yes I'm almost done I swear- anyway if you can help us, please call back? There might also be monsters still alive deep into the cave? We're not sure yet…_ "

The voice then gave their exact location, which happened to be in a neighbouring country. The recording ended. The wind outside was now the only sound. Asgore and Frisk stared at the phone, then at each other.

"Frisk", he said soberly. "Call Toriel."

The human called their mother over, then made her listen to the recording.

"We cannot sacrifice any more people", she declared.

"Yes, we cannot", Asgore agreed, "but then we need to find another way to help these people…"

"Which might turn out like ' experiments in-" Toriel started, stopping when Frisk raised their hand as though they were still in class. "What is it, my child?"

"I have an idea."


	23. Cave of Dust

"You want me to what?" Flowey cried out.

Frisk kept staring back at him.

"Really, Frisk? I wouldn't even come up with you before, and now you're asking me to… You remember I don't want mo- Toriel and Asgore to know who I am, right?"

"They won't need to. All they need to know is that you're the vessel Alphys created."

"Why do you even need me?" the flower asked. "Any monster could do that."

"You can do it without anyone noticing", the human argued. "The humans won't need to find out SOULs were needed."

Flowey sighed.

"I wish I could call you an idiot, but your plan actually makes sense, sort of. I just don't like it."

"…You don't want to be Asriel again" Frisk guessed.

"Do you think going back to this form and losing the ability to feel love _again_ was fun? It wasn't. But I- Asriel didn't want to stay a god. Too much of a goody-two-shoes. Had to let the SOULs go. That's what will happen again."

"…We'll find something else. Maybe. We need another vessel…"

The human was now staring at their own shoes. They apologised and left the vicinity of the flowerbed.

"Wait!" Flowey called after them once they were no longer in his field of vision. "You can't just make another vessel!"

Frisk appeared in the distance again.

"It probably wouldn't work. And if it does, you'll have another soulless being around. Sounds like a bad idea if you ask me. Remember how _I_ was? Now let's go before I change my mind again."

They would have to do it over the weekend so Frisk wouldn't miss school.

The human and their monster dad got on the train, the former holding a flowerpot with a single golden flower their hands and the other carrying the bags.

"I regret it already…" Flowey mumbled.

Frisk did their best to suppress a yawn. It was early in the morning after another not-really-good night.

"If you do not want to accomplish this task", Asgore said as he shoved the bags in the upper compartment, "we can bring you back Underground and-"

"And then what?" the flower interrupted. "Are YOU gonna do it? We both know you won't. You wouldn't even absorb the SOULs you had when your kingdom was- hum, _if_ your kingdom was on the brink of extinction."

Frisk gestured him to be quiet.

The three of them spent most of the long train ride going over the map of their destination again and again. Flowey was starting to know it by heart now. Why did he agree to be nice again? It wouldn't bring him anything good.

The train arrived at its destination. During the short walk from the train station to the hotel, Frisk protected Flowey from both the icy rain and the curiosity of strangers by hiding him under their coat.

Once the three of them were inside their hotel room and Asgore had checked that the door was indeed closed, he said :

"Our ride should arrive in a couple hours. In the meantime…"

"Yes, yes I know", the flower replied. "My time to do all the work. Just get me out of this stupid pot already."

Frisk did as he asked, then let him out on the balcony. He knew the map : the hospital was just two streets over. Finding people close to dying while avoiding being seen should be easy enough.

Flowey found the hospital quite quickly. Finding his way inside the building while remaining unseen, however, proved to be more of a hassle. He couldn't burrow under the hard floor so he had to use other tricks. He avoided places with lots of staff, did his best to remain in relatively darker places and in the blind spots of whoever happened to be in the room with him, and on a few occasions even flattened himself against a wall and pretended to be a pretty decoration. Fortunately, everyone was too busy to look down and wonder why the eyes of the "wallpaper" were moving.

Seven soon-to-die patients was all he needed. He'd be doing them a favour, really.

While Flowey was busy, Asgore & Frisk's ride arrived outside their hotel and they met him there.

"Hello, Mr. and ! I was the one on the phone. What an honour to meet you!"

"Likewise, ", the former king said.

Frisk smiled and nodded.

"Well, just climb in the van, it'll be warmer there!" Hernandez advised the other two as he opened the sliding door of the vehicle. "Then we'll just have to follow this road for a few minutes and stop where the rest of the team is."

Everyone climbed in and the human adult started the engine.

"I'm, hum; surprised it's just the two of you though?" he spoke again after a few minutes of driving in silence. "I was expecting you to have, like, bodyguards and stuff."

"Well, it _was_ short notice", Asgore pointed out, "and our usual bodyguards were busy with other tasks. Besides, no-one was informed of our travel except for trusted families and friends. And, of course, yourself."

"Yeah. Sorry for the short notice. One of us getting stuck wasn't really part of our plans either."

"It is alright."

The two men then proceeded to talk about monster history and the recent findings of historians and archaeologists on the subject for the remainder of the drive. Frisk kept staring at the window in silence. They hoped Flowey was alright and would find his way.

Hernandez stopped the van nearby other vehicles besides a path on the side of the road, then they all walked the rest of the way to the cave. Other people present outside greeted them as they walked by. Some stared silently, surprised to actually see the Dreemurrs up close.

The entrance of the cave was just big enough for a human to squeeze through. The man stuck inside called out : "wait, they're actually here? Wow, I didn't think-"

He cleared his throat and got a step closer to the invisible Barrier.

"Hello, sir and, hum… Hello."

"Hello", the boss monster greeted back. "Are you alright?"

"Well, I'm alive. Can't say the same thing about whoever was there before me, though… I mean, we haven't been able to properly explore the entire cave because of the whole… me situation, but… so far, I haven't seen anyone else in there. Can you get rid of this invisible wall? I really don't want to stay in there…"

Asgore took a step closer to the Barrier. It started glowing, then stopped.

"It does that sometimes", said the human inside matter-of-factly.

The monster examined it in silence for a moment.

"So…?" asked Hernandez and his colleague.

"It should be gone soon", Asgore stated.

"How soon?" the human adults asked.

"Soon enough."

Meanwhile, Frisk was looking up at the sky, waiting for the signal. Asgore kept talking to buy time.

Then, at long last, it came. The young Dreemurr discreetly elbowed their father and signalled him to look up at the shooting star that exploded into smaller stars, illuminating the grey clouds.

"Is that a new kind of firework?" asked one of the humans that had gathered around Asgore.

"Beautiful, is it not?" the latter commented.

"I hope one of you took a picture, I wanna see too!" shouted the one in the cave.

"We should not waste any more of your time", the boss monster said. "I advise all of you to step away from the Barrier."

All the humans present did as instructed, then the former king summoned his trident and pretended to stab the Barrier repeatedly. Eventually, there was a flash of light, and the man in the cave was now free and thanking Asgore profusely.

"Do not mention it", he replied, embarrassed to have to take credits.

The newly freed man squeezed through the exit and shook his hand.

"Hum, can I just ask a question?" Hernandez chimed in. "How come it took you so long to break the Ebott Barrier if it was that easy?"

"Well…" Asgore hesitated.

"It takes a _very_ long time for magical barriers to become breakable!" Frisk lied.

The other human nodded slowly.

"Anyway", he said, "now thanks to you we can focus on getting work done in this cave!"

"Count me out on this one", his colleague mumbled. "All I found in there was- Hey, what are you-"

Frisk was entering the cave. Their father called after them and tried to tell them it might not be safe, but he couldn't follow them through the small opening.

They were curious. Was there really nobody alive in there?

The first things they found were a folding chair and inflatable mattress lying against the wall. Then there was another narrow passage leading to darkness. They squeezed through it and then, once they could no longer feel the cave walls around them, they took their phone out of their pocket and turned on its flashlight.

There were houses there, carved into cave walls and stalagmites. The village seemed to be empty. They walked into one of the houses (there wasn't even a door to knock on anymore) and only found dust all over the floor and barely-standing furniture. Familiar-looking, white dust.

 _Oh no._

Frisk ran to the other houses and only found more monster dust and not a single living soul. They felt cold sweat falling down their body. What had happened here? They entered the last house and found a human skeleton in a dust-free corner, sitting in a foetal position against the wall. Not a skeleton monster : a very human and very dead pile of bones.

They slowly backed away from this house. Did this human live the same fate as the monsters? Or were they responsible for all this dust everywhere?

The sound of someone calling their name interrupted their train of thought.

"Oh, there you are, Fri- I mean, ", said Hernandez.

He was wearing a hard hat with a light on top.

"My colleague says he found only dust and human bones in there", he continued. "Let's go back now."

"Wh- what…"

"Are you trying to ask me what happened?" the adult guessed.

The child nodded.

"Well, given that this cave is much smaller than the ones under Mount Ebott and doesn't seem to have much resources… Our best guess is that everyone just… starved to death. Wow, that got really dark really fast, didn't it? Yeah, let's just- we really need to go back now. I'll drive you guys back to your hotel."


	24. What Now?

"Are you saying I did all that for nothing?!" Flowey cried out once he was reunited with Asgore and Frisk in their hotel room the next day.

"You did free one person and allowed everyone to find out more about monster history", argued the boss monster.

"Seven people are _dead_."

And so was the silence that followed.

Asgore and Frisk were looking anywhere but at the flower.

"Well, not like they had much of a life left, anyway. But don't go begging for my help again if you're just going to waste my time."

The travel back home was done in complete silence.

It was only once he was back alone in the Underground entrance that it dawned on Flowey that he had gone farther from his old home than he had ever been. It was weird how easy it had been for Frisk to convince him this time, after over two years of repeating again and again that he did not want to go to the Surface. Maybe he had just been bored. Maybe he had wanted to see if anything good could happen to him up there.

Now that he had time to think again… well, he still felt like he had wasted his time, but at least that was better than being attacked and dying, he guessed. He wished he still had shoulders to shrug.

He looked at the outside world through the cave's entrance. Everything was still wet and cold from a recent rain and the sky was entirely grey.

Getting to be Asriel again sure was nice while it lasted. Why did he have to give it up once more? Flowey swore his old self was too good for his own good.

The flower shook his head. Then he peeked farther outside, his face just coming out of the cave. A bird flew overhead and disappeared into the distance. Flowey inched the rest of his body closer to the outside world. He didn't feel ready for it in the slightest ; however if a bit of exploration could offer a distraction…

He hesitated, frozen in place for what felt like hours (but was most likely a few minutes) before advancing slightly forwards. He didn't have to go with Frisk or anyone. The Underground could still be his home, it just didn't have to be the only place to go to for him.

He advanced again. He didn't want to think about what happened anymore. So he went hiking.

"i dunno, kid", Sans admitted to Frisk as he sat down next to them on Toriel's couch. "do _you_ think you could have made it better?"

The human kept staring blankly in the general direction of the coffee table.

"ya know, i'm not even sure how you still can SAVE after all this time. when we got out i expected you to lose that once on the surface…"

The conversation, if it could even be called that, was cut short when Toriel got out of the kitchen with some drinks and leftover pie.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked, setting everything on the coffee table.

"oh, not much", the skeleton lied. "just lazybones doing nothing."

"I would say you two are like bread", the boss monster countered. "You are… loafing around!"

The two monsters kept exchanging puns of the same calibre for hours. It almost made Frisk smile again.


	25. Hisha Learns To Jump Good

"NOW TRY TO ATTACK ME!"

"…Do I _have_ to?" asked Hisha, lowering the stick in her right hand instead of brandishing it. It almost touched her own SOUL on the floor.

The school gym was currently empty except for her and Papyrus.

"IT IS JUST PART OF THE TRAINING!"

The human closed her eyes as she swung her stick in the skeleton's general direction. Of course, she missed him by a wide shot ; then it was his turn and she barely avoided his series of white and blue bones. She swung again and dealt only one HP of damage, then lost four during the next turn by not jumping high enough to avoid everything.

They went on for a few more turns of Hisha either missing Papyrus or doing pitiful damage then struggling with her jumps. Half her HP were no gone and she was breathing heavily.

"IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG?" the monster asked.

"…It's… it's just…" the human replied, trying to find her breath again, "…hard…to move…"

"YOU ARE WAY TOO OUT OF SHAPE FOR THIS", Papyrus commented. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, IS SPARING YOU!"

Hisha pressed the "spare button" immediately ; her SOUL went back in its place and the battle screen disappeared. Then she rested her stick and body against the nearest wall. Papyrus waited for her breathing to get back to normal then helped her up again, healing her as he did so.

"Didn't know you could heal?", Hisha said.

"TORIEL TAUGHT ME."

"Cool!"

"NOT SURE IF YOU'RE REFERRING TO ME PERSONALLY OR TO THE FACT THAT SHE TAUGHT ME, BUT BOTH ARE TRUE ANYWAY."

"Well you're not wrong!" she smiled. "Speaking of cool shit, you can increase gravity on a thing but is it possible to, hum, do the opposite? Or do other stuff?"

"OF COURSE! BLUE MAGIC MIGHT ONLY WORK ON A SINGLE TARGET, BUT IT IS VERY POWERFUL STUFF! HERE, LET ME SHOW YOU!"

Papyrus lead Hisha back to the centre of the school gym. Her SOUL appeared again ; he started by making it fall to the floor just to make sure (it was slightly more difficult to tell if his magic was even working when her SOUL was already blue to begin with), then started decreasing gravity on it.

Hisha jumped up and over his skull, laughing.

"It's like I'm on the Moon!" she exclaimed.

The double door to the gym flew opened to reveal Undyne, her clothes dripping from the cold rain outside.

"Ha! There you are, Papyrus! Do you know if- Wait, what are you two doing?"

"JUST SOME LIGHT-HEARTED FUN!", Papyrus replied.

"…Did you just…" Hisha said.

"WE WERE HANGING OUT THEN IT STARTED RAINING. SO WE WENT INSIDE. NOW HISHA'S HELPING ME PRACTICE!"

"Blue magic is actually fuckin' cool!" the human chimed in.

"Sure is!" Undyne agreed. "But you know what's also cool?"

"Ice?" Hisha joked.

"GREEN MAGIC!" the fish monster shouted as summoned two spears and handed one to Hisha before turning the latter's SOUL green, locking it in place.

The human successfully blocked all of Undyne's arrows for the next turn.

"No-one can run away from me while they're green!" she boasted.

"Didn't you show me that, like, fifteen chapters ago?"

"WE'LL PROBABLY NEED BOTH GREEN AND BLUE IN THE EBOTT POLICE FORCE", Papyrus pointed out.

"Speaking of that", Undyne said, "has Star talked to her siblings yet?"

"SHE DID. SHE SAID THEY SAID YES!"

"…Yes to what?" Hisha asked while observing the magical spear in her hands.

"To patrol for us while we're busy with this obligatory training crap the humans want us to do", the fish monster explained. "Most of us are already qualified to protect a city! I can train the rest myself!"

"But you also want to do that shit legally, I guess?" the human added. "Or you would just keep the patrol thing like it is."

"Yeah. And Asgore thinks playing by their rules is the best option here."

Papyrus offered the other two to come hang out at his house, which they gladly accepted. Hisha's SOUL went from green to its usual blue and disappeared into her chest once again.


	26. sometimes you just gotta wait

Frisk looked for Flowey at the patch of golden flowers. They looked for him in the Ruins. They looked for him in Snowdin. They looked for him in Waterfall. Even in Hotland and New Home. But he was nowhere to be found. Was he hiding from them?

When they finally crossed the threshold of the Underground again, it was dark outside and their phone indicated over a hundred missed texts and calls from their mother ; they had really been down there for too long…

The human was about to call Toriel back when they heard a voice from farther down the path to Ebott Town :

"Howdy! Shouldn't you be at home at this hour?"

They almost dropped their phone from the surprise. Flowey had willingly gone to the Surface? That was new.

"…Was looking for you", Frisk explained. "Do you think… I should reload?"

"I don't really care now", the flower replied.

There was a moment of silence only disturbed by a chilly wind.

"Well, you can't save the monsters from the other cave", Flowey continued, "so it just comes down to this one guy and the hospital's patients. You could let him rot in an empty cave for the rest of his life to buy them maybe a few months of life at most. Or you could repeat what we've already done and sacrifice seven people to save one person… and also access knowledge I guess?"

"heya", greeted Sans from behind Frisk. "whatcha doin' here so late?"

Flowey instantly burrowed himself into the ground and left.

Since Frisk still had their phone in their hand, they wrote "wanted to ask Flowey".

"about reloading?" Sans guessed. "what did he say?"

"That he didn't care", they wrote.

"hey. figures. listen kid, I could give you another spiel about how you probably shouldn't be messing with time and space if you're not absolutely sure it's necessary, but… it's not like i can actually stop you."

Frisk fidgeted with their phone for a second, then sent a text to Toriel to tell her they were alright.

"sometimes you just gotta wait. you don't always know right away if you made the better choice."

The human nodded slowly and pocketed their phone.

"anyway, tori sent me to bring ya back home, so… that's enough skull-king around for the night."

One shortcut later, they were both standing next to Toriel's house again.

A few days later, Asgore received another phone call from Hernandez.

"So, the monsters left a lot of documentations, and the one human was carrying a diary with them, right?" he explained. "We actually found some things mentioning other monster clans or kingdoms- Ebott monsters included. And the human's diary actually has a map in it!"

"A map?" the boss monster repeated.

He was holding the phone with one hand and picking ingredient for his lunch with the other.

"They drew a map of where they thought different 'monster colonies' were hidden. Looks like they were very passionate about the subject and did a lot of research. We're currently double-checking with the infos we got from monster sources. You know, just in case the diary might be inaccurate. I mean, they did find this one 'colony' -their word, not mine- but you know. We still have to make sure."

"May I see this map?"

"Sure. Just hold on a second."

Later, Asgore was knocking on Toriel's door. Frisk let him in, then he showed the map on his phone to them and Toriel.

"Yes, I do vaguely remember hearing about some these places when I was a child", she confirmed, squinting at the screen.

"So do I", Asgore said. "Perhaps the people in at least one of these places are still there. Us Ebott monsters simply cannot be the only ones to have survived the war and imprisonment."

"What if we are, Asgore? What if all we ever find is dust and the sacrifices were for naught? Too many people have lost their lives already."

"Wait and see", Frisk said calmly.


	27. Glasses Repairs

Undyne and Alphys were eating lunch together when the latter's phone rang. She didn't recognise the number. Her claw went above the answer button, hesitating to press it. Her girlfriend put her cool hand on her shoulder, giving her the courage to go ahead and answer the phone.

"H-hello?"

"Hello, is this Doctor Alphys?" asked the voice on the phone.

"Yes, it-it is!"

"Hi! I work at the children's shelter and Valari Torres broke her special glasses and she says you can repair them? Also your number was written on the inside of the arm. The arm of the glasses, I mean."

"Of c-course I can d-do it, I made them", Alphys explained. "I'll t-try to make them st-sturdier this time…"

"Great! Can you pick them up later today? Would three in the afternoon be alright with you?"

"Hum…" the lizard hesitated.

She covered the speaker with her hand and quickly explained the situation to Undyne, who nodded heartily.

"Yes, we'll be there!" Alphys said.

She and the person on the phone ended the conversation.

"Did you say 'we'?" her girlfriend asked.

"Hum… well… I-I just said it without th-"

"Hey, it's cool! I wanted to come anyway."

It was right before three in the afternoon that Undyne and Alphys showed up at the shelter. They were barely in the building when Valari rushed to meet them like a brightly-coloured bolt. Undyne was about to pick her up when the man at the front desk intervened :

"That's nice of you to visit her again, but please be careful. Anyway, you're here for the glasses repair, right?"

"Y-yes", Alphys replied. "We'll j-just take them back to my lab."

The man left the front desk to stand beside Valari ; they signed to each other briefly. The girl suddenly looked sad and disappointed.

"She wants to go with you, but I told her I can't let her leave again."

"Why not?" Undyne argued. "She already spent a few days with us when she was sick and everything went alright."

"Yeah, I know you two are trustworthy. But you know. The rules are the rules, and they've been broken enough already."

Valari took the broken glasses from her pocket and handed them to Alphys. They looked like someone had stepped on them.

"It'll only take m-me a few minutes to repair them", the scientist stated while putting them in her own pocket. "Don't worry, Valari! We'll be b-back in no time."

The man translated for the child, whose smile finally came back.

"She seems to really like you", he commented. "I wish we could let her stay with you, you know… Well. Not everyone can be Frisk Dreemurr, I guess."

Soon enough, the couple was back with the as-well-as-new glasses. Alphys had made sure to reinforce them so they'd be more difficult to break.

"There you go", she said to Valari as she gave her the glasses back. "It should w-work even better now."

The lizard said some random words aloud to test the speech-to-text ; the little girl gave a thumb up when the spoken words were transcribed inside the lenses.

"Try not to break them this time, punk!" Undyne smiled while patting the child's head affectionately.

Valari seemed confused by the friendly touch at first, then she started smiling.

"We s-still should learn h-human sign language though", Alphys pointed out.

They kept talking together a while longer, the man at the front desk translating the child's signs for the two monsters.

The latter couldn't stay forever though, and eventually had to say goodbye.

"D-did we…" Alphys started once she and her girlfriend were outside and ready to get back into the car. "I-I mean, hum… we s-sorta accidentally adopted her… Well, n-not officially or a-anything but…"

"I guess you're right", Undyne agreed, opening the car door for her girlfriend. "Or rather, she adopted us. Had someone told me three years ago I'd want to take care of a human child someday, I would have laughed so hard! FWUWUWU!"

They both climbed into the car but didn't start it right away.

"I-I d-don't think I'm r-ready t-to raise a child! I b-barely c-can t-take care of myself! I-"

Undyne took her girlfriend's hand in hers.

"I know we'll be able to rise to this challenge!" she declared. "She'll be so much better off with us than with her human parents or at the shelter, I can feel it in my SOUL!"

She put her other hand in a fist on her chest to illustrate her words.

"Her p-parents k-kinda set a very low bar…"

"STILL! I know we can be such great mothers every other kid will be jealous of her!"

"If you say so", Alphys smiled.

She squeezed her partner's hand tighter.

"Well, at least we have t-time to prepare since, hum, we can't officially adopt humans yet…" she pointed out.

"And that's bullshit, honestly! We treat their children better than they do!"

They kept talking a bit longer, still holding hands, before they finally drove back home again.


	28. Movie Night & Shopping

Sans and Papyrus hadn't been able to hold movie nights ever since the latter had started covering the night shift of the Ebott patrol. This night however, one of Star's siblings had volunteered to patrol with her, allowing Papyrus some more free time.

They first took a short trip to the store to grab some snacks, then Papyrus checked his mailbox on the way home, surprised to find a letter in there. He was also surprised when his attempt to make his bother finally empty his own mailbox was successful.

They set the snacks and mail on the low table between the couch and TV. Most of Sans' mail turned out to be bills and junk. Both brothers had received an invitation to one of their old neighbours' wedding.

"I DID NOT KNOW THEY WERE GETTING MARRIED", Papyrus said.

"they've been telling everyone at Grillby's about it", Sans explained.

"OH."

The taller brother grabbed the remote and browsed through the list of movies the other had illegally downloaded ; they ended up picking Nightmare Before Christmas (or rather, Papyrus did ; Sans didn't care much as he was likely to fall asleep halfway through no matter what his brother picked). They had already watched it before but seeing a skeleton protagonist on screen was nice. Well, the movie wasn't necessarily accurate, but human media rarely were.

"WHY DO HUMANS ALWAYS ASSUME WE ARE DEAD?"

"'cause they end up looking like us after they die, i guess."

"…OH RIGHT. I AM… STILL NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS."

"me neither, bro. hey, can ya pass me the chips?"

Papyrus handed his brother the bowl of chips.

Unsurprisingly, Sans fell asleep halfway through the movie ; however his brother woke him up so he wouldn't miss out on their first movie night in months.

The following day, Papyrus headed to the mall the next town over. Soon enough, Sans took a break from selling hot dogs to come join him. Then, as they were checking the map next to the escalator, Hisha happened to be passing by. Also, she now had short hair and a black and white headband.

"DID YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?" Papyrus asked her.

"Nah I painted, like, ninety percent of it in invisible paint…"

"OH?"

"That was a joke, of course I cut it!"

"hey, sarcasm ain't funny, pal", the shorter brother pointed out.

"…Excuse you" Hisha replied, her hand on her hip.

"anyway, watcha doin' here?"

She explained she was on her day off and taking this opportunity to go get some clothes and supplies (she already had a big plastic bag in hand, though it looked like there wasn't actually much in it) ; they explained they were looking for fancy outfits to go to a wedding.

"It's that bunny's wedding, right?" she guessed. "They've been showing off their ring to everyone at work for…hum… a week? Two weeks? Whatever. Time's not real anyway."

"yup, that's them", Sans confirmed.

"THEY'VE INVITED A LOT OF FORMER SNOWDIN RESIDENTS!" his brother added.

"Cool", the human said.

The three of them took the escalator up. As they kept walking, Sans couldn't help but notice how easy it was to tell which humans were just passing through the city. Those who either lived in the area or frequently visited it were used to seeing monsters ; those who came from farther away still stopped and stared. They tried not to be obvious about it, but they weren't nearly as discreet as they seemed to think they were.

He pretended not to notice. Whether his brother was doing the same or genuinely not noticing was anyone's guess.

"YOU COULD COME WITH US, HISHA!" Papyrus suggested.

"I-I wasn't invited…"

"I BELIEVE GUESTS CAN BRING ANOTHER PERSON WITH THEM?"

Hisha hesitated, stated she might not have the time, then said she might think about it.

"Oh, by the way, is it true they're marrying a human?" she asked, successfully taking the focus of the conversation off herself.

"yup."

They entered a shoe store and the brothers started looking through the shelves of expensive shoes.

"Is it gonna be the first inter-species wedding since the Barrier fell then?"

"I'M PRETTY SURE THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW SINCE THEN ALREADY", Papyrus said while looking for his size, "BUT THEY WERE BETWEEN DIFFERENT MONSTER TYPES."

"so that would make it the first inter-species marriage with a human in it in the post-barrier world", his brother added. "dunno if there were any before the war."

"Oh, ok. You can bet your non-existent asses human media are gonna present it as _The First Ever In History_ just to sell the story more, though. Well, if it's, like… legally recognised at all."

"WHY WOULDN'T IT BE?"

"Because humans are assholes", Hisha replied. "Legalising same-sex marriage or interracial marriage within our own species was already difficult…"

"why do you humans have to make _everything_ difficult?" Sans asked.

The human shrugged.

Once the skeletons found what they were looking for, they moved to another store, then another, followed by their friend.

"Well", the latter said while looking around the store, "that's gonna be a nice change of pace from wearing the same thing everyday for you guys, huh?"

"hey, papyrus' the one who wears the same clothes for weeks at a time. i just own _a lot_ of identical shirts and shorts."

"…Are you guys cartoon characters?"

"I CANNOT FIND YOUR SIZE, BROTHER", Papyrus called from further into the store.

"hey. 'knew this would happen. i could feel it in my b-"

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO KEEP RECYCLING THE SAME AWFUL PUNS OVER AND OVER?!"

"i think it's still pretty humerus."

The taller skeleton facepalmed hard.

"WHY DID I EVEN ASK?" he somehow managed to mutter without his volume getting any lower than usual.

During this whole exchange, Hisha went from smiling to snorting loudly.

"DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM", Papyrus told her, which only made her laugh more.

An employee appeared to ask them to either stop making such a ruckus or leave. They decided to do the latter, as they couldn't find what they needed in there anyway, and went on with their search.


	29. Housing Problems & Solution

There was a "Now Hiring" sign on Grillby's door. Well, that was odd, Sans thought. Were the human siblings quitting?

He asked Hisha about it when she served him his breakfast.

"Oh, hum…" she hesitated. "Well, the original plan was to stay in this country for, like, a year or two, but with everything that happened… we've been considering just going back home early? But we can't just like, quit our job here before the boss find someone else, right?"

"ya never mentioned any of that", the skeleton pointed out.

There wasn't any judgement in his voice, only a bit of surprise, yet she looked guilty anyway.

"Well… hum… We don't know if- I mean, when we'll actually leave? I don't know. I just know we can't stay at the inn forever… Yeah, I should- I shouldn't have put off telling you guys…"

"ya know toriel's been looking for a home for you two, right?"

She covered her face with her hand.

"I had _completely_ forgotten about this! I- I didn't think she'd actually do it?"

"she's been busy with other stuff, mostly. but there's a house that's gonna be free soon. not 'free' as in 'won't cost you anything' of course. 'free' as in 'the previous owners are leaving'. she told me to tell ya 'bout it. and to give you her number."

"Oh… sorry, I gotta go-, just… put the number in my phone, 'be right back!"

Hisha left her phone on the counter in front of Sans, next to his burger, then left to take someone else's order.

He would have taken such an occasion to do something he thought funny like replacing the phone's notification sound with fart noises or renaming all the contacts, but it was a touchscreen. When its owner came back, it had remained completely untouched. The burger was half-eaten though.

"your phone's a touchscreen", he said.

"…Yeah? Most cellphones are."

"i can't use it sans skin."

"Oh, right! Sorry. Just… gonna do this the old-fashioned way, I guess. Also it's not pronounced that way."[1]

He dictated Toriel's number to her while finishing his food.

"i take it you guys maybe leaving is why ya didn't wanna come to that wedding then?" he asked.

"Hum… at least that's part of it, yeah. That and, like I said, I don't know how long we'll get to stay here. Also… there's gonna be a bunch of people I don't know and… yeah."

She was nervously tapping her fingers against the counter.

"hey. that's fair. you can always hit us up if you change your mind."

She thanked him and left to take care of yet another customer. Soon, he was gone someplace else.

* * *

Later that day, as Toriel was getting home from work with Frisk, she received a text from an unknown number. She opened it as her child went into their room.

The message turned out to be from Hisha about the house.

"I saw the 'for sale' sign while running some errands through town yesterday", the boss monster texted back, "and thought it might interest you and your brother."

She put her phone back in her pocket and went into her own room to deposit her bag on her desk. Soon, another message arrived :

"We can't afford to BUY a house :/"

To witch Toriel replied :

"It is alright. I have already talked to the current owners and they might consider renting their house instead! ]: ) I will send you their number so you can negotiate with them directly."

She then joined up with Frisk again to help them with their homework. The matter was dealt with quickly, leaving them both more time to work on the ambassador's next public speech.

"This is all very good, Frisk!" Toriel complimented her child as she lightly patted their head. "I am so proud of you and everything you have done for us."

Frisk replied that it was the least they could do. Their mother still thought it was a lot of responsibilities for them, but they had chosen this path out of their own free will. The least _she_ could do was to help and support them so they wouldn't bear this burden alone.

Then Papyrus called on the phone just to say hello to both of them.

* * *

The following day, the human siblings were closing the bar instead of opening it for a change.

The bunny monster who often came here was still celebrating their engagement and paid a couple rounds of drinks for everyone. When they finally left, the building suddenly felt strangely silent by comparison. Or at least it would have been silent had a certain skeleton in a blue hoodie not started snoring on the counter.

Grillby started cleaning all around his sleeping form, careful not to disturb him. Behind the fire elemental, the human employees were observing the scene.

« Tu crois qu'on devrait le réveiller ou… ? » she asked her brother.

« Ben va bien falloir le faire avant la fermeture » he replied.

Before they did anything, however, Papyrus arrived to pick Sans up. Literally, in that case. Star was also with him, ready to start their night shift together.

"OH, BY THE WAY," Papyrus said after ordering a glass of milk, "TORIEL TOLD ME ABOUT THE HOUSE. ARE YOU TWO GOING TO TAKE IT?"

His voice had woken up a few drunk customers ; his brother, however, remained undisturbed. Grillby grabbed the milk bottle from the fridge nearby.

"Rent is too high", Hisha's brother explained.

"They said they needed the money to raise their puppies", his sister added. "I can understand that. The price is just a bit much for us, you know?"

"What if you split it in three instead of just two"? the owl chimed in.

"You mean if we find a roommate?" Hisha said. "'Guess that would help. But there are only two bedrooms. Their kids all shared the same, apparently. 'Must be why they're moving to a bigger house."

"Well", Star argued, " _I_ am looking for a place to live outside of my parents' house, and _I_ will probably only sleep when _you_ guys are working."

The siblings looked at each other and exchanged a few words no-one else in the room could understand ; then they agreed to give the owl's idea a shot.

Papyrus quickly finished and paid his milk before saying goodbye and leaving with Star by his side and his still sleeping brother secured in his arms.

* * *

 **Notes :** [1] : The way the fandom says Sans' name is COMPLETELY different from how the French word "sans" is pronounced.

Translation of French dialogue :

"You think we should wake him up or...?"

"Well someone will have to do it before closing."


	30. A Title What Title

Papyrus didn't come to Toriel's house on his own that often, but when he did he usually left with some new knowledge such as how to heal or how to add magic to otherwise non-magic ingredients. Today, the boss monster had agreed to show him how to make pie like she had shown his brother.

Frisk was also there to help out any way they could, and the radio was playing in the background.

"INCREDIBLE", Papyrus commented, "YOU'RE THE ONE WITH FIRE MAGIC YET YOUR LESSONS INVOLVE _LESS_ FIRE THAN UNDYNE'S!"

"I am much more careful than she is", Toriel replied, to which the skeleton agreed.

Frisk fetched all the necessary ingredients for the crust from different parts of the kitchen to the countertop, then Papyrus weighed them. The radio went from music to a news broadcast.

"Oh, I almost forgot", Toriel said, "you will need different gloves to be able to make the dough without getting the ingredients in your joints. Sans had a similar problem. Is it alright?"

Papyrus hesitated. Then the radio started talking about the so-called "first inter-species wedding" coming up, which the skeleton concluded was his acquaintance's. The mayor of the nearby human town was being interviewed.

 _"_ _So, you already agreed to do the ceremony but the real question is : will this marriage be legally binding in any way?"_ the interviewer asked.

 _"_ _Surprisingly, yes"_ , replied the mayor.

 _"_ _Really?"_

 _"_ _Well, the law doesn't explicitly say you can't marry another species. The reason why you can't marry your pet cat or whatever animal you find is because it can't consent. Adult monsters and humans can consent so nothing is currently preventing them from marrying each other. Our legal system didn't take monsters into account at all… and for once this detail turned out to be in their favour, kind of."_

"WELL THAT ANSWERS HISHA'S QUESTION", Papyrus commented.

On the radio, the mayor continued :

 _"_ _Also, if any other mixed couple is listening and wish to get married, I advise them to come to my town hall and tie the knot before anyone makes it illegal for them to do so. Plus, being married to a legal citizen will allow you to get citizenship yourself, so that's a plus."_

"I did not know we could get citizenship this way", Toriel said.

"WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET IT THE OTHER WAY", the skeleton informed her. "THE HUMAN POLICE MIGHT HAVE AGREED TO TRAIN US BUT WE STILL NEED TO BECOME CITIZENS. IT'S… A SLOW PROCESS. AT LEAST SANS HELPS OUT WITH THE PAPERWORK."

"This is nice of him", the boss monster commented.

"MY BROTHER MIGHT BE A LAZYBONES BUT I CAN TRUST HIM FOR AT LEAST TWO THINGS : TELLING OTHERS HOW GREAT I AM AND DOING THE PAPERWORK EVENTUALLY. AND ALSO PAY THE BILLS."

Frisk considered pointing out that it was actually three things ; however the topic of conversation went back to baking before they had the chance to say anything.

Asgore went back home from work at the school's garden (someone had to make sure the Papyrus-shaped hedge remained that way) and made himself some tea. While waiting for it to brew, he checked if there were any voicemails on the phone.

There were a few for Ambassador Frisk (mostly invitations for pro-monster events), but they weren't here today. Then the last message played Hernandez's voice.

"Hello! I'll try to make this quick. So the bad news is : the map I showed you was inaccurate. The poor human was off by quite some distance on a lot of the locations. Good news is : thanks to documents left by actual monsters, we might have the true location of another monster settlement. And, well, we haven't been able to check 'cause it's pretty far and- Well you know. Our team is still trying to find more things in Dusty Cave. Yeah, we've called it Dusty Cave… for obvious reasons. My sister is near the probable location of the other settlement though, so she plans on bringing her own team there. I took the initiative to give her your number so she can keep you updated too. Have a nice day, !"

Asgore slowly put the phone down and poured the steaming hot tea into his cup. The possibility of finding survivors outside of the Ebott area filled him with hope ; the possibility of having to destroy yet another Barrier filled him with dread.

He hesitated five whole minutes before sending a text about the news to Toriel and Frisk, typing carefully with one finger. He also informed them of the messages for the ambassador in the same text.

He guessed all he could do now was wait and see for any future news.


	31. Cold Snow, Warm Hugs

It had been quite a difficult climb for 's team, but they had finally made it to the supposed location of the monster settlement, high up in the snowy mountains. She quietly cursed her own impulsivity under her breath (and wouldn't be surprise if everyone else did too) as more snow fell, getting all over their warm clothes and erasing their tracks. Why did she decide that going on a mountain expedition _now_ was a good idea? Why couldn't she just wait for spring?

One guide interrupted her inner monologue by going on and on about all the cryptid sightings in the area.

"'Pretty much the only thing this place is known for", they explained. "Only people you'll encounter here are hikers and cryptid chasers. And cryptid-chasing hikers."

"'Ya think the 'cryptids' were just monsters?" the other guide asked. "That would explain a lot."

The archaeologists checked their map again for at least the millionth time. Several voices kindly, or in some cases not-so-kindly pointed out that finding the cave entrance was going to be tricky with all the snow. Their leader sighed heavily. Yes, they were right, but complaining was useless now.

After a few minutes of searching through snow and rocks, she stopped for a second and thought about the guides' conversation.

"Wait, what did you two say about cryptids earlier?" she asked them.

"Well, there have been a lot of sightings here, is all I'm sayin'", the first one replied. "Over a period of like, a hundred years? Of course, all we have are blurry pictures of sh- things in the distance."

"And I say these were actually monsters. I mean, if there's a settlement 'round here…"

"But they would have to get out to be seen and mistaken for cryptids by humans, though…" Hernandez pointed out. "Could some of them have, like, bypassed whatever barrier we imposed on them? 'Cause, I mean, if they did… we might not even need to find the entrance : we can wait until one gets out and, well, shows us where it is!"

One half of the group nodded in agreement ; the other half let out sighs of varying degrees of frustration at the prospect of just waiting there in the cold for something that might not ever come. They still helped the first half set up camp though.

Meanwhile, the foot of was more rainy than snowy. Undyne liked it that way.

That's why she decided to go back outside after lunch with her girlfriend to take a walk in the rain. As she neared the edge of Ebott, she thought maybe it would be nice to run to the shelter and give Valari an impromptu visit.

She knocked on the door and after a few seconds the man from before opened.

"Oh, hello!" he greeted her. "I was just about to call your house!"

"I'm so fast I answer calls before you even call me!" she joked.

"Convenient. Anyway, hum… Valari's glasses disappeared."

"WHAT?!"

"We think another kid stole 'em, but we don't know who yet."

"Well I'M GOING TO FIND OUT!" Undyne yelled, shoving the human out of the way and rushing into the building.

"W-Wait!" he called after her. "Please don't frighten the kids too much, they have enough problems already!"

She violently opened the door to the next room, where all the human children playing in there froze instantly… expect Valari who still was sitting alone in a corner and quietly moving beat-up toy cars around, unaware of what was happening. Undyne calmed down only a little bit.

She walked to Valari, who finally noticed her when her boot entered her field of vision.

The adult crouched down in front of the child and signed her hello. It was the only piece of human sign language she remembered from the videos her girlfriend and herself had watched together the day before, yet it was enough for the little girl to start getting teary-eyed.

Undyne gestured Valari to wait, then stood up and faced the other children.

"Alright, which. One. Of you. Stole. Her. Glasses?" she asked them, tightening her fists and trying as hard as she could not to shout.

They remained silent and as still as they could be… Until one child meekly raised a hand while staring at the floor.

"Why would even do that?!" the fish monster asked.

She did not get any answer ; however the guilty child accepted to give the glasses back to their owner.

"And write her an apology letter, ok?" Undyne told them.

"Would you steal someone's wheelchair?" the man from the front desk (who was standing in the doorway) asked.

"No", the child admitted, picking up a stray crayon from the floor.

"So you already understand you can't take someone's disability aid away just because you feel like it, right?"

"…Yes."

"Good. Now please don't do it again, ok?"

The child nodded then was given a piece of paper to write their apology letter on.

The man signalled for Undyne and Valari to follow him out of the room and back to the front desk.

"Well, thank you m'am, this went much quicker than I expected!" he told the monster.

Valari gently tapped on her forearm to get her attention.

"You want something?" the fish asked, lowering herself to the ten-year-old's eye level.

The child caught Undyne in a hug.

"You're welcome, punk", she smiled, picking Valari up and off the ground and hugging her back. "If you have any more problem, you can count on Alphys and I!"

The child hugged her tighter in response.


	32. Smells Like Doghouse

Star woke up from her afternoon nap. Two of her siblings were watching TV in the living room. They once again asked her if she was sure about leaving the family home and she once again repeated that yes, she was and yes, she would visit often. Her responses came out of her beak automatically at this point. Eventually, she grabbed her purse and headed out of the apartment.

The Luxoic family lived in one of the tall residential buildings near the centre of Ebott, like many other former residents of the Capital did. Since the cave walls and ceiling were no longer in the way, a lot of monsters had taken the opportunity to build higher and bigger than they ever could before. A few more buildings were currently under construction, slowly getting closer to the sky every day.

Star left this part of town to where individual houses were. Or rather, one specific house where the Dogi family (Star was familiar with the parents as they were part of the patrol) and two human siblings were waiting for her to start the visit.

A few puppies were running around the house and throwing a squeaky toy at each other.

"Kids, we have guests today", their father said.

They stopped running to say hi to the owl and humans, then decided to take their game outside.

"(Go watch the puppies, sweetie)", their mother said to her husband. "(I'll show Star and the humans around.)"

Dogaressa showed them almost everything in the living room and kitchen before Hisha's brother asked if there was any toilet in the house.

"(We just had one installed)", the dog monster replied. "(Now the place is just like a human house.)"

"Some monster houses have toilets too", Hisha said. "There was one at the bros'."

"Must be because they invite Frisk over sometimes", Star pointed out.

Everyone moved on to the bathroom (which smelt of wet dog) so the humans could check out the brand-new toilet, then went back into a small corridor. Further into it were two doors on either side.

"(Left side is our room, right side is puppies' room)", Dogaressa informed the others as she opened both doors.

Both rooms were pretty small. The master bedroom had a king-sized bed and battle-axes hanged up high enough on the wall that the kids couldn't reach. Incidentally, neither could Star.

The children's bedroom had tiny colourful pawprints all over the walls and toy chest and desk ; the bunk beds seemed to be the only thing in there that had been left untouched by the paint.

"I call dibs on the top bed!" the owl declared.

To her surprise, no-one contested.

"(We still have some things to pack, but the house will be yours in a few days.)"

"Oh by the way, my parents will be paying my share of the rent for now", Star explained, "but once that whole joining-the-police thing is done, I'll be able to pay it myself."

The dog nodded in understanding.

"(The human police didn't do anything when our puppy got dognapped)", she said. "(I don't trust them. But I trust Undyne. If she says we can keep every puppy safe by all becoming police officers, then my hubbie and I will be the best police dogs. You can be the best police owl.)"

"I will, m'am", Star promised.


	33. Mama

"Oh, yeah, there have been stories before, of course", the guide said. "But it's only since the last hundred years or so that these were labelled 'cryptids' and became some sort of tourist attraction. If you can even call it that."

Hernandez nodded and peeked outside her team's tent again. Evening was starting : now it was clear that even if they left now, they wouldn't be able to reach the valley before nightfall. A couple people were currently standing outside in case anything happened.

"Hey, that wasn't there before", she heard the other guide say.

Her gaze followed the direction they were pointing to. Farther away, a child-sized hooded shape stood precariously on a rock formation. Hernandez and two of her teammates approached it.

"Are you lost?" she asked.

A gust of cold wind brought the hood down, revealing only ice in the shape of a featureless human head.

"Who left that statue here?" asked one of the teammates.

Then the "statue" started moving, albeit very slowly ; all three humans took a step back. As the creature moved, they noticed there was still some unfrozen water beneath the icy surface.

Nearby, a large snow-covered rock no-one expected to move was quickly pushed aside, losing its snowy blanket and revealing a monster taller and bigger than anyone else present.

"Bubbles! Where are you?!" they shouted, voice fast with a hint of panic.

This monster seemed to belong to the same species than the famous Asgore and Toriel. A patch of black fur covered most of their face and hands while the rest was almost as white as the snow.

Everyone froze in stunned silence until who was previously mistaken as an ice statue spoke :

"Mama? You ok? Who are these people? Are they…?"

"Get. Away. From them."

Hernandez wasn't entirely sure whether the goat-like monster was speaking to them or to the child ; she took another step back and held her hands up just in case. The other two humans followed her example.

"We- we come in peace", she stated. "We've been looking for any sign of- Well, ok, let's start at the beginning. Ebott monsters are free."

"…I beg your pardon?"

The adult monster picked up the child and held them close in one arm.

"Monsters of Mont Ebott broke free over two years ago now", Hernandez explained. "And, you know, they've been doing pretty well, living alongside humans and all… so we've been trying to find other monster settlements, right? My twin brother's team actually found another, but, hum, there wasn't anyone left in it, so-"

The boss monster slowly stepped back and delicately put her child down behind her, never breaking eye contact with the human woman. She then pulled a sword from under her robes.

"W-wait!" Hernandez exclaimed. "You won't even need that, I promise! Monsters and humans are already getting along elsewhere! You have to believe me! My brother was even in contact with the former king of Ebott monsters recently, and- well, he looks kinda like you…"

The sword was slightly lowered.

"Well, same way these two look like me", the human woman continued, pointing at her companions. "I mean we're the same species. And I think Asgore might be the same monster type as you?"

"If this is a trap…" the monster started, raising her sword again in her left hand.

"It's not, I assure you. He'll be thrilled to know that monsters still live outside the Mount Ebott area, I'm sure! You- you want proof? I can try and contact him. But he's pretty far away right now so it'll take some time, and… my friends and I might need shelter from the cold while we wait…"

"I cannot let your kind know where my people live, human. If you enter, you may never leave."

"Oh. Well, my kind already sorta know where you are. We wouldn't have found you otherwise. We couldn't find the entrance though… Listen. When I can finally prove everything I just said, will you let us go?"

"Mama?" the child called from within the cave entrance. "What's going on?"

"Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure myself", their mother admitted.

She focused her attention back to the humans and hesitated for a painfully long moment before sheathing her weapon. She agreed to the deal and let all the humans inside and under the surveillance of her guards.

There was no reception in the cave, so to be able to send her message, Hernandez had to be escorted outside by the monster lady, who had introduced herself as queen Lorena Cholymn.

"You said there was another boss monster?" the latter asked as both women were looking for a place from which the phone would work.

"'Boss monst'- Oh, you mean like Dreemurr? Yes. There's at least two of them, actually. They've adopted this human kid who serves as ambassador…"

Lorena was staring into the distance, barely listening. She stopped walking. The human did too.

"Hum, your majesty? Are you ok?"

"…I have not seen any other boss monster since my parents passed away. Hearing I might not be the last of my species sounds too good to be true."

"Oh, that's so sad- I'm so sorry!"

"Is your device still not working?"

Hernandez shook her head. They both walked a bit farther down the mountain. It had stopped snowing so the human hoped that getting a signal would be easier now.

"So, hum…" she said, phone in gloved hand, "what about that child from earlier? They called you mama so I'm guessing they're yours?"

"I adopted Bubbles a few years ago. She managed to get past the guards, but then froze outside."

The human nodded then focused her attention back to her screen to see she had finally found what she was looking for. The signal was weak but it would have to do. Though, it was too cold to take her mittens off so texting was right out. She had to call and leave a voicemail. She hated leaving voicemails. She had recently started voice training but still felt she sounded too much like her brother.

She took a deep breath.


	34. In The Cave

Queen Lorena had been keeping the humans in her home for a couple days now, and most of her people had already come see them. They were all very curious and excited to see humans up close for the first time. Few were those old enough to remember the war…

The visitors were free to explore the castle but were advised not to leave it, to make it easier to keep an eye on them.

Hernandez was currently reading a book in the queen's living room. Or rather, she was trying to read while Bubbles kept asking her question after question about the Outside. Lorena was tending to the fireplace on the other side of the room and pretending she wasn't listening in and just as curious as her daughter. The human patiently answered every question.

"Is it true that humans are mostly water?" the young elemental asked.

"Well, yes", Hernandez confirmed. "The exact percentage is different for everyone, but-"

"Awesome!"

"…Over half our bodies is water."

"What's the other half? Mama says it's not magic, but that sounds weird."

"She's right though. But biology isn't my specialty so… I probably won't be able to give you the most accurate answer, you know? I mean, us humans have a lot of stuff going on. I'm not sure where to start."

The human did her best to recall what she knew, then closed the book and set it on the table.

"Ok, my turn to ask something", she said. "Other monster settlements we know about had a Barrier around them, right? That we put there so no-one could get out? Was there ever anything like that here?"

Lorena finally turned to her guest and explained :

"We are the children of those who fled the war. Humans did not imprison us here : we came here to hide from them. As soon as they attacked, my parents took me and everyone they knew into the mountains. Not all of us made it."

"…Are you saying you were there?" Hernandez asked.

"My species can live a very long time. I am old enough to have seen the Cave population be replaced by an entirely new set of people several times over."

The human struggled to find something to say ; after a moment of silence she finally settled on : "wait. Holy sh- holy cow. I've been going over your books for information when I could have just asked you directly! You've lived through the history I've been trying to study! This is- Can I interview you? I'll go get something to write with and-"

"Maybe later", Lorena interrupted. "I have some business to attend to. Bubbles, do you want to come see Mama work?"

The water elemental nodded enthusiastically and followed her mother out the room, waving the human goodbye.

The next day, Lorena sat at her living room table to be interviewed by Hernandez. Most of the latter's teammates were there too, taking notes. Bubbles was moving all around the room, going from person to person and trying to read above their shoulders.

"No, I do not remember why they attacked", the queen stated. "My mother said they feared us. My father said they feared what we could become. I was but a child. I couldn't understand why humans did what they did."

One of the guards, a calico cat monster, flung the door open.

"Your majesty! They're here!"

"…I beg your pardon?" Lorena replied.

"You were waiting for someone, right? Well he's here, and he's not alone! They're waiting near the exit."

She stood up immediately ; the guard moved aside to let her pass. She rushed through the stone-carved city and the exit tunnel. Monsters parted to let her pass, wondering what was up with her.

Right there, between the first sentry station and the outside world stood two boss monsters and a young human.

"Howdy!" one of them said.

"Greetings", the other added.

The human waved and smiled.

Lorena remained frozen for a few moments before collecting herself.

"Oh, I am deeply sorry, I haven't met any fellow boss monsters in so long I forgot my manners! I am queen Lorena Cholymn. Welcome to our Cave. Please follow me."


	35. Stepping Outside

[This whole fic was originally supposed to be a one-shots collection, I don't know what happened]

* * *

The thrones room was rarely used, as the queen preferred to work elsewhere, but it was big enough to host all the guests and royal advisors in one place. So she had a large table and chairs installed in there.

On the far end of the room was a portrait of her parents watching over everyone in the room. In front of it and covered with a single large sheet whose colours faded a long time ago were the two thrones. In front of those, Bubbles was sitting on the floor.

"Why is this human smaller?" she asked her mother. "Are they a kid too?"

"Yes, my dear", Lorena answered. "And it looks like they've been adopted by boss monsters just like you did."

The child immediately stood up and went straight to the older child to introduce herself. Then they both sat next to each other at the table with all the adults.

Toriel and Asgore quickly filled the Snow Cave monsters in on what happened to Ebott monsters over the last couple years. The queen couldn't shake the feeling that there was something they didn't tell her.

"Of course, we still have much work left to do", Toriel stated, "but I do hope our that efforts will be worth it."

Lorena nodded.

"It sounds like you've already accomplished much more than I thought possible", she said. "I would love to see that for myself, but- Wait. Rocky, could you take care of the kingdom without me?"

The rock monster sitting next to her replied in a gravelly voice :

"My queen, you know I can. I've been your second for centuries. I will keep everything in order until you return."

"Thank you, my friend", Lorena smiled.

"I take it you are leaving with us then?" Asgore said.

"We can go Outside now?!" Bubbles exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her seat. "That's awesome! I'll go pack up right n- Wait, when are we leaving?"

"Well, we have to go back to our responsibilities in Ebott in a couple days", Toriel explained. "Seeing how long it took us to travel here, I think it would be best for us to leave _very_ early tomorrow."

The young elemental quickly nodded and darted to her room to pack up. Frisk watched her go ; once she was no longer into view they diverted their attention back to the other people at the table. They had barely uttered a word since arriving in the Cave, aside from replying to Bubbles. Lorena assumed they just didn't like talking when it wasn't necessary.

"Bubbles? Bubbles, wake up!"

The little girl groaned weakly but did not move. She was comfortable here as a puddle in her tub, why couldn't she just-

"We did say we would leave early", her mother continued.

The elemental managed to wake herself up just enough to form her upper body. She was then presented with a large spill-proof bucket.

"You will freeze out there again, so… would you prefer I carry you in my arms or in this?"

She was too sleepy to really care about anything, really, but she figured it would be easier to sleep in the bucket, so she lifted the lid, poured herself inside and went back to sleep. She had just enough room in there to be comfortable.

"Where's Bubbles?" Frisk asked when Lorena arrived in the living room.

"Still sleeping", she replied, showing them the large lidded bucket she was carrying with her left hand.

Seeing the look of confusion on the young human's face, she added : "you didn't think elementals maintained their form in their sleep, did you?"

They shrugged, then told her their parents were already waiting near the exit with the humans and a few other monsters. They both walked there silently. At this hour, only half of the lanterns in the city were lit and a lot of the residents were still in bed. Those who were out all greeted the queen and her guest as they passed by, and were met with kind words or friendly handwaves in return.

"So, Frisk, I've been thinking…" Lorena started as they walked into an empty street. "Your parents never mentioned _how_ the Barrier was broken."

The human froze for a second, then resumed walking ahead, avoiding her gaze.

"It's a long story", they finally said after a minute of silence. "And a team effort."

"Could you be more specific?"

"…Maybe later."

They were reaching the exit tunnel where Rocky, Frisk's parents and Hernandez's team were waiting, along with a few guards. Lorena gave a warm goodbye to the monsters who would stay in the Cave, then followed the others Outside.

It was only once everyone had reached the foot of the mountain that Bubbles woke up. She was still partially frozen but had enough freedom of movement to gently open the lid above her and take a peak outside, once again forming only her upper body. She observed the sky and the clouds while holding the lid in her hands.

"Wow…" was all she could say, not finding any word to describe what she was seeing. She had never gotten that far from home before. The snow had mostly disappeared here, leaving place to a lot of green and brown and grey. But by far, the blue and white of the sky were her favourites.

"I have not seen this place since the war…" her mother thought aloud.

"Everything's so… big", the little girl commented.

"Wait until you see the rest!" Frisk smiled.

Bubbles happily jumped out of her bucket, forming the rest of her body on the ground while her mother handed her her cloak. The two children then walked alongside each other.

Soon, the group reached the first human village. Its inhabitants either gathered around them or watched them through their windows, curious about the monsters but trying to keep a respectful distance.

"Sorry about that", Hernandez apologised to the monsters. "They're not used to see monsters up close here. Or celebrities." She gestured to the Dreemurr family. "Anyway, does anyone still have battery on their phone? 'Cause mine's dead as f- Hum, it's dead."

Frisk brandished their own phone proudly.

"Great, now we can call a ride to the city and then you'll be able to take the train and- well, you know."

"How far is Ebott?" Bubbles asked.

"It is quite far, still", Toriel replied.


	36. Meanwhile, Near Ebott

The happy soon-to-be-wed bunny certainly didn't look so happy today. Their whole body was shaking and their eyes wet with barely-contained tears. Other regulars were getting out of their seats to go ask them what was wrong. Grillby and his employees were observing the scene from behind the bar in stunned silence, not daring to intervene.

"hey, what's going on?"

No-one had seen Sans enter the building, but everyone was used to him just appearing out of nowhere so no-one even questioned it.

"Some humans sent death threats to them and their fiancé online", explained the big-mouthed monster. "Promised to crash the wedding. And not to enjoy the buffet."

"Hey, I know exactly what to do", declared a human who often visited Grillby's on the week-end. "I'll call my squad. You know when there's some pro-monster rally somewhere and humans volunteer to create a literal human shield around it so asshole anti-monster humans can't get to it? We've done that shit before. We can totally do that for you. Hell, if you need protection anywhere anytime, just call! I'll give you my number."

She was met by a storm of thank-yous from the crying monster, to which she replied that helping out was just the right thing to do. The rabbit gradually calmed down, still shaken but reassured in their belief that they could always find help and protection somewhere.

The human employees behind the bar started talking to each other in their language for a few moments before the older of the two cleared his throat and asked if he and his sister could take part in the human shield.

"Hey, of course! Lemme give you guys my number so we can organise everything."

While names and numbers were being exchanged, Sans casually sat on his usual sit at the bar. He noticed Hisha gave her birthname this time, but didn't comment on it.

"looks like yer goin', after all", he said. "just in a different way."

"What can I say", Hisha shrugged, "life's full of surprises."

"You can say that again", the other human woman confirmed. "Oh, and I can get you Delta Rune badges for the operation, if you wanna."

The siblings briefly looked at each other, then Hisha turned to Sans :

"So… hum… is it ok for humans to wear the Delta Rune or not? 'Cause I've seen pretty contradictory stuff and… yeah."

"depends. if you're just usin' it as some aesthetic stuff without actually givin' a shit 'bout us, that's real dick move. if you're gonna wear it, you're gonna be expected to fight for us. be our ally. ya know, that kind of shit."

Grillby nodded in approval.

"…But how do you tell the difference between the asshole appropriating it and the actual monster supporter then?" his employee asked.

"believe me buddy, they reveal themselves soon enough."

"Also in pro-monster rights circles we keep reminding each other never to buy Delta Rune stuff from human-owned businesses", the other woman intervened. "I get all my badges from monster-owned Etsy stores."

The others nodded. Soon, the bar's normal activities resumed.

"But why's she still here when she already got dreemurred?" asked one of kids for the fifth time this week. "She should be with her monster moms, not here!"

Their caretaker sighed.

"How many times will we have to tell y'all? They haven't actually adopted Valari yet. She belongs here just as much as you do."

"I wish I could get dreemurred too", the child continued. "Humans suck."

"'Guess you're not wrong on that last point."

Meanwhile, Valari was constructing the biggest lego tower she could in another corner of the room. She had quickly found out that the downside of her auto-transcribing glasses was that now she could be aware of conversations she didn't necessarily needed or wanted to know about. In moments like these she was tempted to take the glasses off ; however she didn't want to lose them again so she kept them anyway.

Her mighty, multi-coloured plastic tower was up to her waist now. Another child came up to her to complain that she was keeping all the legos to herself. She stared intensely at her shoes, waiting for the younger kid to blow up in her face, but he didn't. He was still mad, sure, but all he was doing was cross his arm over his chest and tap his foot on the ground impatiently.

After a few seconds, Valari picked up a few more bricks and handed them to the boy. She pointed at him, then at the tower, and went back and forth between the two until he got it.

"Oh, you want me to help you build this?"

She nodded, smiling. He accepted, but soon they ran out of available bricks. So they destroyed the tower, the boy making lots of sound effects that Valari's glasses couldn't accurately transcribe, then built a new construction together.

"So, how did you meet your monster moms?" he asked her out of the blue.

She almost knocked over the foundations of the brand new lego building. Were Alphys and Undyne really her new parents now? She certainly wanted them to be. She guessed they were now, even if it wasn't official yet. Everyone here but the administration had already accepted it as fact.

She gestured the other child to wait here, then searched the toy box and came back with a large toy car and the one small doll that matched her skin tone the best. She put everything down on the floor in front of the boy, placed a yellow lego in the front seat of the car and drove the latter into the doll.

"I don't get- Oh! No way! Do you think if I get hit by a car…?"

Valari shook her head no, as she doubted her luck could be replicated like this. And also, she didn't want her playmate, or anyone really, to go through all that pain for nothing. He looked disappointed.

"I'll find some other way then", he finally said after a brief pause.


	37. Newcomers In Ebott Town

The train was nearing its destination. Lorena didn't remember much of the outside world, but it sure felt very different to her now. Next to her, Bubbles was watching Frisk play on their phone and in front of her, Toriel and Asgore were starring through the window. All boss monsters had been talking a lot during the ride, but the conversation had quieted down.

"I think even before the war I have never been this far away from home", Lorena stated, also starring through the window.

"I do hope your kingdom will be alright in your absence", Toriel said.

"It will be. Rocky has been around being my second for my whole reign and is fully able to go without me for a few days."

"It sounds like you two go way back!" Asgore says.

"She's the second oldest monster in the Snow Cave, only about a decade younger than me. She was already my second before I changed my official title to queen."

"What was it before?" Bubbles asked.

"King."

The station was visible through the windows now ; everyone picked up their stuff and got ready to get off the train. Then they boarded Toriel's van, drove to Ebott and gave a tour of the town to the visitors. The two of them were fascinated by it and by how little time it took to build.

Regularly, one or more monsters (and occasionally humans) would come up to greet the Dreemurrs and ask who the visitors were. The news of monsters from outside the Ebott area spread like wildfire through the land. Lorena and Bubbles were informed that thanks to this technology called "the internet", it was incredibly easy for information to spread on a large scale that fast.

"If you wish, I can contact my former Royal Scientist to make the both of you phones like Frisk's so you can experience it yourselves", Asgore suggested to the guests.

"It does sound interesting", Lorena said.

"So I can get all the cool games Frisk has on theirs?" Bubbles asked. "That's awesome!"

Her enthusiasm made everyone smile.

Sans was in the middle of a 'dog sale when his phone gave out the short buzz of a text message notification. He waited until the customer was gone before checking it. It was from Alphys.

"I have a job offer for you", it said.

That made him quirk his not-eyebrow. Another text came in asking him whether he knew about the foreign monsters who arrived yesterday, then a third saying that of course he must know about this, it was pretty hard to miss. Which was true.

"I need your help to install fast travel between Ebott and the Snow Cave", Alphys continued. "I already have blueprints I've been working on for a while and I just started actually building the device. But I'm gonna need you to install the other half of it in the Snow Cave."

The skeleton pondered for a moment. On one hand, that was a pretty long travel, he didn't want to leave Papyrus alone, and he just didn't feel like doing anything in general. On the other hand, he would only have to pay for a one-way trip and his brother was perfectly able to survive without him for a day or two. If Sans was being honest, Papyrus was probably better at taking care of himself than he was.

Also, he guessed that it made more sense to send someone immune to cold like him to the snowy mountains than it was for a cold-blooded lizard like her to go there herself. Still, asking for that kind of favour out of the blue like that…

Alphys texted him the pay she would offer him for the job. Had he been able to open his mouth, his jaw would have dropped to the concrete under his illegal hot-dog stand.

"where'd you get all that money" he sent.

"I sell dimensional box upgrades to humans. Lots of demands for those. I can pay your train ticket too"

Hum. He could buy Papyrus a lot of brand new action figures with that money… and then take a day off…

"I'll talk to my bro about it. also i'll only need a one-way ticket"

"I know"

On the first night, the two Snow Cave monsters had slept at Asgore's place, but today they went to Toriel's after school. Frisk finished their homework then showed off their toys to Bubbles, keeping her entertained while the two monster women discussed the past, the present and the future while drinking tea and eating snails like they were peanuts.

"I still cannot believe I got to meet other boss monsters", Lorena confessed. "I was convinced I was the last one."

"Asgore and I were convinced _we_ were the last ones."

"It's a miracle there is any of us left at all when it takes the sacrifice of two to make only one."

Toriel's expression shifted to a sad, pained one at the other woman's words for a split second.

On the other side of the couch, Frisk was teaching their new friend how to play video games. Bubbles' mother couldn't help a smile making its way back on her face. Ever since the little girl had finally gone out of the cave without having to sneak out, she was even bubblier and more enthusiastic about everything than she ever was. Staying sad was pretty difficult when the young elemental was there radiating positive energy all over the room.

The older child gave her the console so that she could try out the game herself.

"YES! I caught it!" Bubbles exclaimed a couple minutes later after catching an adorable little virtual furry animal, and the human applauded her. "I'm gonna call it Frisk!"

This earned her a thumb up from them.


	38. Tree

"…and she decided to hire me to install the other one in the snow cave 'cause no-one else was available", Sans explained to his brother.

What he did not bother to add was that Alphys knew if something went wrong and he couldn't get her machine to work, he would be able to go find her for help immediately.

"SEEING NEW THINGS AND MEETING NEW PEOPLE CAN ONLY DO YOU GOOD!" Papyrus commented. "AT LEAST IT WILL BE BETTER THAN STAYING AT GRILLBY'S ALL DAY."

The older skeleton wanted to argue that he did leave Grillby's to go to work several times a day, but had to admit the younger one had a point.

"IS THE SNOW CAVE LIKE SNOWDIN THOUGH?"

"dunno. wanna come check it out?"

"I CAN'T JUST TAKE A DAY OFF", Papyrus stated. "I-WE HAVE IMPORTANT WORK TO DO, KEEPING THE MONSTERS SAFE."

Not for the first time, it was obvious to Sans that his brother was actually better at being a responsible adult than he was ; however now he finally had the energy to care about it.

He was sincerely and absolutely proud of Papyrus, that never changed. But wow, was Sans really lagging behind in a lot of ways. He earned more money, sure, but everything else…

"well alright then. i'mma go pack my bag."

"MAYBE I'LL DROP BY AFTER YOU'VE INSTALLED DR. ALPHYS' DEVICE."

"yeah", Sans said, "just-"

"DON'T HURT YOURSELF ON THE WAY DOWN, I KNOW", Papyrus finished.

"man, i really gotta be faster."

Since school was out for the afternoon that day, Toriel and Frisk decided to take their guests to the park. Bubbles started playing with the echo flowers immediately after being told what they were. Toriel explained how the flowers had to be moved from the Underground to the Surface.

"Does your kingdom also have unique flora?" she asked Lorena.

"We do have colour-changing fungus that has appeared in some parts of our cave some centuries ago. People use them for art. Rocky especially. She's very good at it."

"I would love to see it."

A few minutes later, they ran into- well, more exactly, Papyrus and Undyne ran into them while jogging through the park together. Toriel introduced them to Lorena & Bubbles.

Everyone kept walking through the park together until they found a bench the two boss monsters and their children sat on. Then Bubbles stood up again to talk to the nearest echo flower.

"It was a tradition in Waterfall to whisper your wishes to these flowers", Undyne explained while taking the elemental's place on the bench. "Well, since we moved them to the Surface we can do that again."

"I WISH WE'D KEPT THE SNOWDIN TRADITIONS TOO", Papyrus said. "I MISS THE GIFT TREE. HUMANS HAVE SOMETHING SIMILAR, BUT THEY ONLY PUT IT UP ONCE A YEAR! HOW PREPOSTEROUS! WHY WOULDN'T YOU WANT A PRETTY GIFT TREE IN YOUR TOWN ALL YEAR ROUND? WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS?"

Undyne stood up, stated she would be right back then bolted out of the park so fast she was like a distant blue and red blur disappearing on the horizon.

"Where'd she go?" Bubbles asked.

The echo flower near her repeated her question over and over.

The conversation resumed for a little while. Then the fish monster came back, casually carrying the uprooted Snowdin gift tree on her shoulder and looking for a good spot to plant it. Papyrus' eye sockets were full of stars.

He did his best to modify the shape of his summoned bone so that it resembled a shovel, then dug a hole his friend could plant the tree in. Said tree had lost half its decorations during the trip from Snowdin ; Frisk offered to go find new ones to bring it back to its former glory.

"WOWIE!" Papyrus exclaimed as he put the dirt he previously dug up back into the hole to cover the roots. "ALL THIS TIME, ALL I HAD TO DO WAS TALK ABOUT IT!"

"Hey, anything for my best friend!" Undyne smiled. "And I already have a gift for you!"

"OH?"

She grabbed his arm in one hand and gave him a noogie with the other, which caused the skeleton's face to do that thing where it looked like he suddenly grew eyes.

"OH NO! IT WAS A TRAP!"

She finally released him, laughing her head off.

"But seriously though, I gotta find you a real gift someday."


	39. Train of Memories

The train was about halfway to its destination in Lorena and Bubbles' country and the train car empty except for them, Sans and a tall package taking up its own seat.

The water elemental had been given crayons and plenty of paper to keep herself busy ; she had doodled the virtual creature she had found in Frisk's video game thousands of times already.

"so." Sans began. "can i ask you somethin'?"

"Of course", Lorena said. "What do you want to know?"

"has a human ever come to the Snow Cave before thas one team?"

The older monster fell silent for a moment, looking through the window at nothing in particular.

"…Just once", she finally replied, still not making eye contact.

Bubbles looked up from her doodling and at her mother. The latter seemed deep in thought, or most likely memories.

"The entrance to the Cave is hidden well enough that humans cannot find it", Lorena continued. "But once… centuries ago… I had just recently started living as myself back then. I think I had officially changed my name already? I found her outside in the snow near the door, unconscious and frozen. Had I been just ten minutes late, she might not have survived…"

"What happened then?" Bubbles asked.

"I took her in. I could not just let someone die out there in the bitter cold, not even a human. When she regained consciousness, I told her she might not be able to ever go back to her people. She said she didn't want to do that anyway. So she stayed with me- I mean, in the Cave… until the end."

Behind the sadness in her tone, Sans detected a fondness that seemed to indicate Lorena and this human had been close at some point, but this was none of his business. And not at all the kind of information he was looking for.

"did she ever act kinda weird?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"ya know, like she somehow knew what was goin' to happen before it happened."

"…No. This is a strange question. Why are you asking?"

"nothing. forgetaboutit."

Bubbles kept asking question after question about the human woman until she got tired of her mother's brief, vague answers. Lorena's mind seemed more present down memory lane than right there with the other monsters. She was giving a small, sad smile.

Sans couldn't come up with a joke to change the topic of conversation, so he took out his phone and texted his brother again. He hadn't been this far away from him in… well, ever. Then again, in the Underground you could never be very far from anyone. It took less than a day to go from one end of it to the other, after all. And this included the Ruins.

From what Sans could tell, Papyrus was doing just fine, going about his daily life knowing his brother would be back home in no time.

Sans started regretting his decision to take this job when the mountains came into view and he was told it would take a while to climb them. But well, if he turned back now he probably wouldn't get paid. And at least he could use his magic to make the package containing Alphys' device lighter until he tired out.

A few hours later, Lorena was carrying him, frozen Bubbles (neither of them were very heavy so she insisted it was no problem, really), and the package. When they finally reached the Cave, the boss monster had to shake the skeleton awake after greeting the guards.

He asked where the device should be installed. The queen pondered this for a short moment while the princess was slowly thawing.

"I think the reception room would be best", she decided. "Follow me."

Rocky was waiting for them inside the castle and welcomed them warmly.

"I see you've brought a new guest with you!" she exclaimed. "I'm Rocky. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She extended her hand towards Sans, who immediately took it. The whoopie cushion in his hand farted loudly. He chuckled slightly ; the look of utter confusion in the stone elemental's eyes was definitely worth coming all the way up here.

"hey. it's a classic. i'm sans the skeleton. al- doctor alphys hired me to install her fast travel device here."

"This way, exchanges between the Snow Cave and Ebott populations will be much easier!" Lorena added.

Rocky took the package and insisted on carrying it the remainder of the way then helping unpack it. Now it was time for Sans to do what he came here for. Alphys had carefully numbered each part of the device and included instructions on how to assemble them and in what order. Her handwriting was still hard to decipher though, so it took a while.

But eventually, the device was working, linking two distant populations of monsters together. It looked a lot like the metal detectors at airports, but larger and taller to accommodate bigger monsters. Did she use parts of one or more detectors to make this gate? It seemed very likely.

"So where exactly does it go?" Rocky asked.

"for now, in alphys' lab. but she's gonna move the other gate closer to the centre of ebott soon."

He powered on the device and the lights all around the gate lit up. Nothing else seemed any different, however when Bubbles (who was now completely unfrozen) extended her arm through it, her hand disappeared. She retracted it and went back to normal.

"It works!" she exclaimed. "Awesome! I can see Frisk whenever I want!"


	40. River of Life

While her daughter was sleeping, Lorena quietly left the city to a deeper level of the cave. It was where the underground river was flowing towards some place no-one could see clearly. This was where most of her people, her own parents included, had their dust thrown into after their death so they could take on one last journey and eventually return to the ocean where all life began.

She hadn't been to that place in quite a while. She used to come here often to… think about the past. But she had been trying to move on, and to her it had meant gradually reducing the frequency of her visits to the River of Life until she had stopped coming altogether. Until today.

She heard Rocky's footsteps behind her as she sat on the ledge above the river, her feet dangling in the water. It was always pretty difficult for the stone elemental to be discrete when she moved.

"So", Rocky said as she sat next to Lorena. "What is on your mind? I thought you had decided not to come here anymore."

"I did. But… I've been… thinking about…"

"Who? Your parents? _Her?_ "

The queen didn't reply.

"Usually it was one of those options", the elemental continued. "Well, quite often it was both."

"…You know me too well. While we were still traveling back, that skeleton asked if any human had made it to the Cave before, and… I think you know the rest already."

"So it's her, then."

"I thought I had moved on after over two centuries, but… I guess nothing is as linear as you want it to be. Sometimes a part of you suddenly goes a few steps back…"

Rocky put her hand on the other's shoulder as delicately as she could manage.

"You know, despite everything… sometimes I miss her, too."

This made Lorena stop starring at the river to look at her second's face to see if she was kidding.

"This might be difficult to believe", Rocky admitted. "We didn't get along that well, yes, but… I've had time to reflect and in hindsight, I was really stupid back then. She was a genuinely good person."

The queen smiled.

"Thank you, Rocky."

"No need for thanks, my queen. It is only the truth."

"I don't think you were stupid, though. As good as she was, you had every right not to like her. Or me for keeping her around. I understand this now."

Both women watched the River of Life flow, and both felt they should have had this conversation a long time ago.

After a few moments where the only sounds were those of running water, Lorena lightly tapped one claw on the ground underneath her then spoke again :

"While I was there I heard some Ebott monster was about to marry a human."

"Really? And what did everyone else say?"

"From what I've gathered, the monsters didn't seem to have any negative comment about it. The humans… had more mixed reactions."

Rocky nodded.

"Alright", she said, standing up and extending her hand. "Let's get back home now."

Lorena took her hand and stood up as well. Then they headed back to the other side of the cave. As they walked, the sounds of water were more and more distant until they were just a memory. Their conversation shifted to the present matters of their newfound relations with the people of Ebott, and how it would shape their future.

Rocky expressed her desire to go there as well. It seemed only fair to her. Lorena encouraged her to go for it.

"I will keep everything in order until you return", she smiled.

"I know, my queen."

Once they reached the castle, Lorena went back to bed and Rocky decided that the next day she would officially announce her departure to the guards and then go through the newly-built portal. She started packing her travel bag. She'd had it for a long time and never got to use it before. What to even put in it though? She didn't need much, right?

She was born in the Cave and had never gone farther than a few hundred meters away from it, and as strange and frightening as the idea of traveling felt, it was also exciting at the same time, even if it was only for a couple days.

She barely slept at all that night. Though, despite being the second oldest in the Snow Cave she was still relatively young by rock standards so one night of little sleep was nothing she couldn't handle.

Meanwhile, Lorena opened the book Toriel had lent her before she and Bubbles left Ebott, and started reading. She hadn't been able to get her hands on a new book in literal centuries, so she was very excited to discover it. She ended up spending most of the night on just this one book. Truly Toriel had great tastes. Or Lorena was just excited for any new media to consume. She considered both possibilities for a second and concluded they were most likely both true.


End file.
